The Texas GOP Held Its Convention on Zoomand It Was a Comic Disaster – Texas Monthly

Any lingering doubts that this years Texas Republican convention would be a goat rodeo of galactic proportions surely dissipated around 10 p.m. on July 13, when Walter West, a member of the partys executive committee, swung a bottle of Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey toward his webcam and, by extension, at James Dickey, the partys much put-upon chairman.Dont drink the Kool-Aid, West warned colleagues as he waved the open bottle. But despite his protestations, it was West who had drunk the proverbial Kool-Aid, and so had the Texas GOP. The only thing left to do was to watch the bodies fall.

On Monday, the Republican Party of Texas finally ended its comic and humiliating state convention on the fifth day of what was meant to be a three-day event. But it turned out that even five days were not sufficient: The party scheduled a second convention to take care of all the remaining business it didnt finish. In the morning, chairman Dickey briefly appeared on a livestream in front of a makeshift set to announce that the party had decapitated him, and replaced him with Allen West, a former Florida congressman and tea party personality. (No relation between Allen and Walter.) Dickey looked worn and beleaguered, but he sounded almost relieved.

How could things have gone this wrong? Consider Walter West and his peanut butter whiskey. West, like most of the rest of the party rank and file, was mad because he wanted the party to hold the in-person convention it had long promised. He was mad because after Houston officials had canceled the convention because of the public health risks, the party had failed to push forward anyway. In other words, his desires had collided with reality, and if one of them had to go, he would rather it be reality. It would be weaknessdrinking the Kool-Aidto acquiesce. So he would not be moved, and neither would the party. The iceberg had been sighted. Full speed ahead!

Were publishing more stories than ever before, and giving youunlimited accessto all of it.Subscribe now to have the magazine delivered to your home.

When the coronavirus first hit, both political parties in Texas faced the question of what to do about their conventions this summer. The Texas Democratic party didnt take long to decide that the prudent thing to do would be to hold an online convention. The event, which officials spent months planning, went off in early June without a hitch, something the party has gloated about endlessly. (Its a less impressive achievement than it appearswhen Texas Democrats gather, its mainly to hear the sound of their voices as they agree with each other.)

But the Texas Republican party was dead-set on having an in-person convention, for several reasons: Republicans are more likely to think the threat posed by the coronavirus is overrated and that we all have a duty to shoulder the risk and resume normal life. A more important reason is that Republican activists live for the convention. Its where they get to shank their party enemies and engage in heated arguments about the wording of obscure platform planks such as the importance of protecting Texas against electromagnetic pulse weapons. It would doubtless be less fun online.

The partys base demanded again and again to hold the convention as planned at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston. No doubt many Republicans understood that this would be a mistake, because of both the potential loss of life and the extremely bad public relations aspect of an outbreak worsened by a GOP convention. Even Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who rarely breaks with the partys base, said that he wished the State Republican Executive Committee, or SREC, had wised up.But the SREC refused, voting again and again to proceed with planning an in-person event. So on July 8, Houston mayor Sylvester Turner, a Democrat, canceled the convention, saying that he had no choice, given the risk the event would pose to public health. (Patrick, of course, called it a political hack job.) The party then sued for its right to hold the convention.That brings us back to the Skrewball meeting on July 13. While the lawsuit moved forward, the SREC met to consider its options. The committee could have committed to a digital convention. Instead, things went haywire. Walter West charged the partys lawyers with being either halfwits or pawns of a party elite that didnt really want to have the convention at all, and after he brandished his bottle of Skrewball, the digital sergeant-at-arms ejected him from the meeting.

The rest of the members then debated for four hours, at one point considering a proposal to hold the convention in an outdoor rodeo expo hall with dirt floors in Montgomery County, north of Houston. In mid-July. In triple-digit heat. The meeting ended with the committee pushing ahead with an in-person convention, no matter that a district court had nixed the idea in the meantime. The next day, the Texas Supreme Court agreed with the lower court. The GOP would have to meet online, despite having done little to prepare for it.

In other wordscheck this outTexas Republicans had spent so much time talking about what they wanted to happen that they didnt prepare for what was likely to happen.Hey, apropos of nothing, did you hear that schools are opening back up in a few weeks?

On Thursday morning, the convention commenced. Or at least, a livestream commenced. But at first the only thing on the livestream was a still image of downtown Houston, a chyron that said we are at easedoubtfuland some twangy music. After a while, a few prerecorded messages from elected officials played: Governor Greg Abbott pleaded with delegates to like him. Agriculture commissioner Sid Miller preened in front of the Alamo. Outgoing railroad commissioner Ryan Sitton gave a sort of motivational speech in the style of a youth pastor. Then the videos replayed.

In the late afternoon, an increasingly tired-looking Dickey appeared on the convention livestream to explain that there had been some technical difficulties. The convention was recessed, and the SREC met yet again. Dickey explained that the software the party used to credential delegatesto make sure that meeting participation was limited to those who were supposed to be therehad failed, and it seemed doubtful that it could be fixed in time for the second day.

At this point, some SREC members were still pushing to hold an in-person convention of some kindperhaps dozens of in-person meetings across the state. Dickey, displaying an almost supernatural patience, tried to explain that this was impossible. Many did not seem to believe him. Walter West, the Skrewball guy, replaced his Zoom background with a photoshopped black and white image of his face with glowing red eyes, captioned I TOLD YOU SO, displaying a kind of touching obliviousness to the reality that his intransigence was, in fact, part of the reason this thing was becoming a disaster.

Dickey suggested they might be able to use other software to fix the mess, but that the convention would have to be pushed back. Members began working on a proposed new schedule in Google Docs. But because the URL of the draft was shared on the Zoom stream, anyone was able to edit it. First, some clever troll started scribbling yellow lines across the doc. Then, someone made an addition to the proposed Saturday schedule. Peepeepoopoo, it read.

Around midnight, Dickey agreed to a committee members request to call the new software vendor to get assurances that the tech would work. Though it seemed exceptionally unlikely he would reach anyone, he nonetheless put the meeting on hold and stepped offscreen, before coming back a few minutes later, saying little. It was easy to imagine him standing perfectly still off-camera for the requisite period of time, having a hard think about why he had taken this job.

Hours of confused Zooming finally produced a decision. The convention would take Friday off and instead meet on Saturday and Sunday. This gave the party an additional 24 hours to get its house in order.

On Saturday, things initially seemed to be getting back on track: some delegates got credentialed, allowing them to participate in votes. But it was only a small victory. The large number who did not get cleared were furious, and some suspected it was a plot to silence their voices. Then, on Sunday, as committee hearings were being livestreamed, shards of recorded messages from elected officials played seemingly at random and in quick succession, like the first flashes of a very boring acid trip.In the evening, after a long delay, delegates to the national Republican convention were finally elected. But that success was quickly clouded by a dawning realization: in order to wrap things up, the party faithful, many of them senior citizens, would have to stay up all night.

After many hours of debate, the worn-out delegates voted to end the convention and hold a second convention. But of course there was a wrinkle. When Dickey invited nominations for a committee to oversee the planning, far too many names came rushing in. At first, 1,200 names had been submitted, Dickey said. Then 2,600. Then more than 5,000. And many of them were duplicates, which meant party officials needed to clean up the list before a vote was possible. That could take hours.

At the same time, Dickey made the extraordinary claim that the party was being subjected to a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack from an unidentified outside entity that was disabling the partys ability to continue with the convention. For a time, party officials lost access to their high-speed internet connections and were forced to rely on overwhelmed Wi-Fi hot spots.

Around midnight, Dickey admitted defeat and recessed the convention, allowing delegates to meet virtually in their Senate district caucuses. But there wasnt to be any peace for the poor party chairman. A majority of the delegates promptly voted Dickey out of office and replaced him with a right-wing challenger, the aforementioned Allen West, who represented a southeast Florida district in Congress until his defeat in 2012. While serving in the Army in Iraq, West was court-martialed for torturing a man that he suspected was a member of the Iraqi insurgency. West was fined and allowed to retire as a lieutenant colonel. On Monday morning, long after the convention was supposed to have adjourned, an utterly defeated and tired-looking Dickey appeared briefly on a party livestream to announce that he had been liberated from his responsibilities.

One of Allen Wests first acts was to make Walter West, of the Skrewball bottle, the partys new sergeant at armsputting him in charge, essentially, of enforcing discipline at party gatherings. It is now Allens duty, with Walter at his right side, to plan that second convention. Dickey, no doubt, will be watching at home in a bathrobe with a tall glass of Skrewball in hand. Your problem now, suckers!

It would be too cute to offer the bungled convention as evidence the Texas Republican party is suffering a wider sort of disarray. (Though it may indeed be.) The two things arent connected. The party could screw up the second convention, too, and still outperform expectations in November.

But there is nonetheless something remarkable about the saga of the amusingly disastrous convention. For years, attending the Texas GOP convention was like walking around the lower decks of the Death Star. And I mean that as a compliment. It was an impressive machine; a fully operational battle station.

Though the Democratic convention is always demographically diverse, the Republican convention in years past was ideologically diverse in a way its counterpart never was. Here were all these folks from wildly different perspectives: Christian conservatives, Ron Paul ReLOVEutioners, Texas Nationalists, corporate lobbyists, Log Cabin Republicans, ex-gays, fathers rights activists, gun-huggers, local chamber of commerce types, etc. They fought bitterly and a lot of them hated each other. And yet, somehow, they reliably came together so that when old Grand Moff Tarkin turned the ignition switch, something big always went boom.

But for the time being, at least, the people of Alderaan can sleep soundly. This crew isnt blowing up anything anytime soon.

See original here:

The Texas GOP Held Its Convention on Zoomand It Was a Comic Disaster - Texas Monthly

Local golf league results and upcoming events – The Ledger

Results from golf league play around Polk County through July 20.

Results from golf league play around Polk County through July 20 with format, date, event and winners by flight or class in alphabetical order.

Big Cypress 18-Hole Ladies, Nine-Hole Event, Low Gross/Net, July 14: First Flight Gross - Heidi Aittama 34, Jan Turner 39, Net - Jennifer Renaud 34, Joanne Burkemper and Diana Berube both at 36; Second Gross - Anne Merritt and Jennifer Hostutler tied at 45, Net - Barb Fatzinger 33, Linda Kimberlin 34. Closest to pin: No. 5 - Heidi Aittama plus 2-19 HDCP, Linda Kimberlin 20+ HDCP.

Big Cypress Men's Thursday, Three Clubs and a Putter, July 16: First Flight - Joe Greco 72, Eddie Kiena and Ray Berube tied at 74; Second - Mike Schaeberle 73, Bob Chapman 75, Arnie Howard 73. Closest to pin: No. 5 - Joe DAmbrosio, Bob Chapman; No. 8 - Timmy Monahan; No. 13 - Ray Berube; No. 15 - Eddie Kiena, Eddie Lane.

Cleveland Heights Tuesday Men's, Draw and Quota Points, July 14: Herb Koffler/Dave Neal/Steve Criss plus 6, Keith Lohman/Paul Pelchat/Ron Moisuk plus 3, Mike Mimnaugh/Ron Berry/Dick Gebo plus 2. Closest to pin: No. A2 and C8 - Dennis Compton. Best Over Quota: A - Herb Koffler plus 6; B - Keith Lohman plus 5; C - Dave Neal plus 2.

Eaglebrooke Men's Early Morning Group, July 18: Team Best vs Average Score, July 18: Paul Rouleau/Mike Gilbert/Richard Grant/Tyler Wright minus 5.7, Wayne Fugett, Paul Meyer, Ladd Kline, Al Hanif minus 3.7. Team Point Quota, July 19: Smith Patterson/John Johnson/Kyle Thomas/Jeff Lang and Dan Girata/Albert Sagnella/Richard Grant/Tony Autorino tied at plus 11.

Hamptons Men's, Net Stroke Play, July 14: A Flight - Chuck Swafford 50, Joe DeBonis 54 on a match of cards over Bill Spivey; B - Terry Foster 54, Bob Miller 55, Bill Colclaser 57. Closest to pin: No. 5 - Joe DeBonis; No. 10 - Mark Torr.

Lake Ashton Blue Man Group, Four-Player Team, Best Net on Par 4s, Best Two Nets on Par 5s, Best Three Nets on Par 3s, July 15: Front 9 - George Wilkinson/Larry Griffin/Jim Fish/Ed Costello 36, Doug Stanforth/Ron Watterson/Gary Robillard/Ghost 39, Gator Patrick/Tom Anderson/Jim Smith/Nolan Hake 41; Back 9 - Joe Ricobonno/Steve Burrell/Bob Yeager/Ron Mckie 43, Jim Blackwell/Rich Burns/Jerry Getters/Mike Costello and Ken Engh/Art Luke/Jim Jameson/Norm Wirtala tied at 45.

Lake Ashton Ladies 18-Holers, Four Player Scramble, July 14: First Flight - Mafie Walker/Janis Vasquenza/Lynne Abbott/Marie Clauser 53.3, Colette McKie/Cheryl Coveleskie/Margaret Volpe/Pat Hodges 54, Cheryl Winchester/Mary Anne Stadfeld/Carole Ferrieri/Jackie Tressler 54.2.

Lake Ashton Ladies Niners, Four-Player Scramble, July 14: Carolyn Alvaro/Ann Lake/Diane Struble/Liz Meigel and Carol Zalesky/Brenda Arant/Carol Gillespie/Loretta Hieronimus tied at 25, Laverne Anderson, Linda Ford, Jane Poole, Missy Prescott 26.

Lake Ashton Men's, Two Best Nets Even Holes Plus Three Best Nets Odd Holes, July 15: Chuck Randall/Ron Mcdonnell/Mike Krigelski/Randall Carpenter 164, Rolly Geyer/Jim Capra/Tim Prokop/Jim Ford 165, Larry Wilson/Ted Hall/Don Connors/Courtney Smith 167.

Lake Bess 7 a.m. Tuesday Mens Scramble, Random Team Draw, July 14: Tom Houston/Pat Ferrio/Henry Adams/Joe Gulini minus 5. Closest to pin: No. 7 - Mark Detrick.

Lakeland Elks Lodge 1291 Monday League, Wedgewood, July 20: A Flight - Jim Preston plus 5, Bob Kutsch plus 4 on a match of cards over Carl Hatfield, B - Bill Soldrich plus 4 on a match of cards over Bob Fuschetti and Mike Powell. Closest to pin: No. 8 (50/50) and No. 15 - Bill Soldrich.

Ridge Men's, Wedgewood, July 16: Paul Forkner plus 5, Bobby Lassiter plus 3, Dob Smith and Dennis Johnson tied at plus 1. Closest to pin: No. 4, 11, 17 - Blake Tyler; No. 6 - Dob Smith.

Schalamar Creek Couples', 4 Person Scramble (9 Holes), July 15: First Flight - Richard Romero/Linda Romero/Glen Valentine/Ginger Valentine 34, Ted Reid/Ginny Reid/Don Taft/Kathy Taft 35.

Schalamar Creek Ladies', Low Gross/Low Net (9 Holes), July 14: First Flight Gross - Crystal Santopadre 50, Dianne Lang 52, Linda Romero and Carol Sutton tied at 38.

Schalamar Creek Men's, Two-Man Best Ball, July 13: Clayt Liljequist/Paul Loftis 59, Jim van DeVelde/Larry Smith and Greg Spencer/Glen Valentine tied at 61; Second - Jerry Throgmorton/Terry Phalen 56, Joe McElhenny/Don Gledhill 57, Don Abbott/Ed Herring 62.

TOURNAMENTS & LEAGUES

BARTOW INDIVIDUAL POINTS, Wednesdays, nine holes, make up your own foursome, $17 ($12 green fee and cart), pays all plus scores, night specials in the lounge. Call 863-533-9183.

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS MENS, tee times available 7:30-8:30 a.m. Wednesday through Monday and Friday, groups or individuals welcome, quota points with skins optional, eight to 10 groups now play. Call Paul Boeh at 863-738-4129.

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS TUESDAY WOMENS, every Tuesday, tee times start at 8:30 a.m. Call Shirley Kalck at 863-853-9566.

HUNTINGTON HILLS TWO-ASIDE, Saturdays, 18-Hole Points Quota. Check in by 8:15 a.m. Contact Terri White at 863-5594082 or eagle-2par@aol.com.

HUNTINGTON HILLS WHY WORRY WEDNESDAYS, Nine-Hole Quota Points, 5:15 p.m. shotgun start. Contact Terri White at 863-559-4082 or eagle-2par@aol.com.

LAKELAND MENS SENIOR GOLF, 7:30 a.m. shotgun starts, play against golfers within your handicap. Call Ed Young at 863-648-9695.

LPGA AMATEUR GOLF ASSOCIATION is looking for women and men to play in weekly Wednesday league and every other Saturday at various courses in the Winter Haven/Lakeland/Orlando and other areas. For more information, email Kathy Mannahan at pjacobs21@tampabay.rr.com.

POLO PARK MENS TUESDAY SCRAMBLE, 7:30 a.m. sign in. Random team draw. 18-Hole. For more information, call Polo Park Pro Shop at 863-424-3341.

POLO PARK MENS SATURDAY SCRAMBLE, 7:30 a.m. sign in. Random team draw. 18-Hole. For more information, call Polo Park Pro Shop at 863-424-3341.

RIDGE MENS THURSDAY QUOTA POINTS TOURNAMENTS, 7:30 a.m. tee time starts. Call Carroll Lasseter at 863-299-5350.

WEDGEWOOD THREE-MAN SCRAMBLE, nine holes; Tuesdays at 5 p.m.; call Marcus at 863-858-4451 by 2:30 p.m. to play.

WEDGEWOOD TWO-ASIDE GAME, 9 a.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays; 18-hole points game with skins and blind draw; call Marcus at 863-858-4451.

WEDGEWOOD MIXED CO-ED SCRAMBLE, 2 p.m. Thursdays. Call Marcus at 863-858-4451 by 1 p.m. to play.

E-mail results of local golf tournaments, aces and upcoming tournaments to mquinn@theledger.com; or mail to Golf News, Ledger Sports Department, P.O. Box 408, Lakeland, Fla., 33802. Include complete scores and league names. Deadline is Monday at 5 p.m.

Continued here:

Local golf league results and upcoming events - The Ledger

Big Crypto Hacks: Bad Crypto News of the Week – Cointelegraph

It has been all over the news about the great Twitter Bitcoin hack of 2020. Weve got you covered if you havent been paying attention to #CryptoTwitter this week.

After a period of calm in the cryptomarkets, last week showed some movement. Unfortunately, it went in the wrong direction. Bitcoin was down about 3 percent over the last seven daysand it got off lightly. Ethereum fell more than 5 percent and Bitcoin Cash dropped over 8 percent.

One reason for the fall might be a relationship between stocks and digital coins. Analysts note that Bitcoin shows a 95 percent correlation with the S&P 500, and the Fear and Greed Index suggests that greed is moving the stock market while fear is holding onto cryptocurrencies.

There has been plenty of movement and in different directions: Tesla stock is rocketing even as Bitcoin volatility hits a three-year low. Binance coin has risen 17 percent. Other analysts suggest that a crypto winter could be over as take-up of digital coins increases, especially those with proof-of-stake protocols, but the data says that people are holding onto Bitcoin but trading Ether.

People should certainly be holding tightly onto their Bitcoins when theyre using Twitter. A massive hack of the social media platform placed scam messages on the accounts of Elon Musk, Kanye West, Bill Gates, and Joe Biden among others. The messages asked for donations of Bitcoin and promised a 2:1 return. Reports suggest that victims sent around $118,000 worth of Bitcoin to the address in the posts.

One set of transactions, though, contained a hidden message apparently suggesting that the scammers use Monero instead of Bitcoin. The hackers appear to be associated with the now-defunct website CryptoforHealth.com but we still dont know who was behind it. Justin Sun wants to find out. His was one of the accounts hacked. Hes offering a million dollars to anyone who can help track them down.

He probably shouldnt give that million dollars to Joshua Thomas Argires though. The 29-year-old Texan is alleged to have filed false loan applications worth $1.1 million to the Covid-19 Paycheck Protection Program. He then used the funds to buy cryptocurrency. Argires has been charged but he should count himself lucky.

The bodies of two promoters of the OneCoin scam have been found in suitcases in Mexico. The men, Oscar Brito Ibarra and Ignacio Ibarra, had been kidnapped and suffocated to death.

While Joe Biden scratches his head over the Bitcoin Twitter hack, Ron Pauls political director is quietly mining Bitcoin and building a new blockchain company. In China, the central bank is considering allowing the Tencent delivery giant Meituan Dianping to accept digital yuan and Japans giant financial institution, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, is planning to release a token later this year.

OKEx CEO Jay Hao is continuing to insist that Dogecoin is serious despite the recent TikTok pump scheme. Its not just Twitter that struggles with cryptoscams.

Check out the audio version here:

Joel Comm is an internet pioneer, New York Times best-selling author, futurist speaker and co-host ofThe Bad Crypto Podcast. Thats a fancy way of saying he writes words, says things and loves to play with cryptos

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Excerpt from:

Big Crypto Hacks: Bad Crypto News of the Week - Cointelegraph

Are Chicken Wings A Meal? Is The New Is A Hot Dog A Sandwich Thanks To NY Governor Andrew Cuomo – BroBible

New York governor Andrew Cuomo has never been the most popular guy in the state since he was elected in 2011, and while he managed to beat Miranda from Sex in the Citywhen she staged a primary challenge in 2018, he didnt exactly inspire a ton of confidence when he failed to legalize marijuana the following year despite vowing it was all but a done deal.

He made it illegal to declaw cats though, so, um, I guess thats something.

Weed was expected to actually pass earlier this year but that legislation ultimately never materialized, which is fairly understandable when you consider there was a slightly more pressing matter in the form of the pandemic that crippled the state back in March.

There are plenty of people whove criticized Cuomo and other officials in New York for not taking preventative measures that couldve mitigated the crisis that eventually unfolded, but regardless, he was widely praised for how he handled the situation and his daily press briefings received national attention as his efforts helped New York slowly but surely flatten the curve.

Cuomos approval rating reaped the benefits of his actions, as hes more popular than hes ever been during his nine years as governor.

However, he seemsincrediblyintent on shedding some of that goodwill based on some questionable decisions hes been making over the past week.

As someone who was lucky enough to be sharing an apartment with a nurse in New York City when the shit hit the fan, trying to find positives in the situation was like combing through the pit full of needles inSaw II.However, one upside eventually appeared when bars started offering drinks that werent technically legal to drink in public but just so happened to be served in a plastic cup and with a straw. In addition to making the depressing new reality a bit more bearable, it also allowed you to support businesses in need of all the help they can get during uncertain times.

I personally havent experienced any issues, but there have been more than a few instances where large groups of drunk, maskless assholes have been observed congregating outside drinking establishments. In an attempt to address the issue, Cuomo went down a very interesting route last week when he issued an edict requiring food to accompany any alcoholic beverage thats ordered.

If he had put even two seconds worth of thought into that decision, he wouldve realized there was a loophole the size of a Star Destroyer, and bars and restaurants around the state responded by whipping up custom menus offering food items for as little as a penny to comply.

As a result, the State Liquor Authority scrambled to crack down by attempting to define the types of items that are acceptable. At first, it issued new guidelines that specified sandwiches, soups, or other foods, whether fresh, processed, precooked or frozen. After realizing the inclusion of other foods nullified the entire thing, it clarified it intended to refer to foods which are similar in quality and substance to sandwiches and soups, citing salads, chicken wings, and hot dogs as examples of items with enough quality and substance.

Welp, it appears no one told Cuomo about that, as things officially went off the rails during a press conference on Thursday where he attempted to do some clarifying of his own and failed spectacularly, as he made a number of baffling claimsthe most notable of which is that chicken wings are not substantive food.

Theres a lot to process here, as Cuomo opened up his statement by suggesting all bars were equipped to sell soup, sandwiches, etcetera (thats not how etcetera works!) prior to the pandemic. This simply isnt true, as there are plenty of places that offer free popcorn and literally nothing else. He then proceeds to call out not just hors doeuvres but chicken wings in particular, which I take as a personal attack. He then caps all of this off by defining the lowest level of substantive food as sandwiches, meaning he either A) contradicted his first point 15 seconds after making it or B) seems to think soups are somehow a heartier option.

I had a brief Ron Paul phase back in high school but I would not describe myself as a libertarian. However, how can you possibly think this is remotely acceptable? I know Cuomo has a long history of telling people that he knows whats best for them and covering his ears and going LA LA LA, CANT HEAR YOU! if they object, but this is insane.

Why is the governor of a state telling me what is and isnt food? Have I actually been doing everything wrong my entire life? Like, I thought my stomach has done a pretty good job telling me that Im full after crushing a dozen wings and two pitchers of beer in an unhealthy amount of time but perhapsits been lying to me? Fuck, man. Fuck.

Also, Im sure this will go over really well with his constituents in Buffalo. Hey, guys. You know that food that is the only thing your city was known for before people started jumping through flaming tables at Bills games? Get thisits not food!

I didnt really think 2020 could get any dumber and now theres a very real chance a judge is going to have to tell us which foods are foods. What a world.

Read the rest here:

Are Chicken Wings A Meal? Is The New Is A Hot Dog A Sandwich Thanks To NY Governor Andrew Cuomo - BroBible

Cryptocurrency and Politics: Government Officials Supporting the Industry – Coin Idol

Jul 24, 2020 at 12:09 // News

While many countries lack strong and clear legislation for the cryptocurrency industry, some politicians arent frightened of expressing their support for virtual assets.

It has been more than a decade since the first cryptocurrency came into existence, but most politicians still associate it with high risks, especially after Facebook revealed its plans to launch the Libra project. However, since the financial regulators and the general public are becoming more aware of the decentralized technologies, politicians tend to take a closer look at this nascent industry.

Politicians such as the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, President of Uganda Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, South Koreas minister of science, Information and Tech Yoo Young-min, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, H.E Tayyip Erdogan the President of Turkey, Prime Minister of Malaysia Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, are well-known enthusiasts of virtual currency.

In 2018, H.E. Museveni advised Bank of Uganda (BoU) governor Prof. Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile to stop being "dogmatic" and start focusing on how to integrate blockchain and cryptocurrency in payment systems at the national level.

During the Kuala Lumpur Summit in 2019, President Rouhani and other top officials from Qatar, Turkey, Iran and Malaysia, called for strong Muslim teamwork on cryptocurrency if they want to end the US hegemony. In May this year, H.E. Rouhani also instructed the financial regulator and legislators to quickly formulate a national cryptocurrency mining strategy.

President Maduro developed a state-owned cryptocurrency Petro and circulated it to the citizens for use. In April 2020, as per CoinIdol, a world blockchain news outlet, Maduro was trying to promote cryptocurrency by giving one free Petro to every medical worker who risks her or his life combating the spread of coronavirus disease. He also ordered citizens who are trying to process their passports and visa to always pay the fees using Petro.

Also, the former political director for the Ron Paul 2008 presidential campaign, Craig Berman, a Libertarian, is mining BTC as a side project beside politics, under his firm called Vortex Blockchain Technologies. Craig is a longtime enthusiast of BTC and claims he sturdily backs cryptocurrency over the fiat currency including the USD.

Andrew Yang, a US Democrat politician who wanted to represent his party in the 2020 presidential election is also bullish on BTC. Yang and his team were accepting cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum in donations intended to raise funds to help him facilitate and run his campaign. In April 2019, Yang called for cryptoasset regulatory clarity to help businesses invest in blockchain-related innovations without being wary of regulatory shifts.

Reputable legislators of South Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Singapore, the United States, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Venezuela, Japan, etc., have also not hidden their support for cryptocurrency and distributed ledger technology (DLT) adoption.

There are many other politicians who support a greater Bitcoin and blockchain adoption in the future. For instance, the US Congressman Jared Polis argued in March last year that the US dollar should be banned instead of outlawing the flagship cryptocurrency BTC. The congressman is actively working to wade the governments potential efforts to slow down the growth of cryptocurrency.

Also, the Republican Andrew Hemingway who is running as a Governor in New Hampshire, supports DLT and cryptocurrency-related techs. He actually believes that DLT, the underlying tech behind Bitcoin, could be applied in voting IDs if a more transparent online voting for overseas valid voters is to be achieved.

Australian political leader, Nick Dametto, has also been publicly discussing cryptoassets. A Chinese political bull, Wang Pengjie, has called for rolling out an effective cryptocurrency trading platform nationally. In 2018, Prince Hamdan Bin Mohammed of Dubai also rolled out a DLT strategy.

George Galloway, a Mayoral candidate for London, plans to leverage DLT and use it to track Mayor of Londons expenditure in order to have unmatched transparency. This technology behind Bitcoin can help offer a high-tech backbone for true, 100% transparency.

The opinions and participation of these politicians could positively change a lot of things as the entire globe is ready for yet another high-tech innovation. But the biggest question still remains whether these politicians that are cryptocurrency enthusiastic will lobby the regulatory-friendly position if they are still engaged in politics.

Many of these politicians, especially the incumbents, have got the power and capacity to influence the amendment of the financial laws governing their respective countries so as to include, legalize and accept cryptocurrency to operate within their territories.

Those candidates aspiring to enter developmental politics to effectively serve their people, will bring in new ideas about this promising sector. Some of the ideas could be how best can these cryptocurrencies be regulated, how can these digital currencies be used without weakening fiat currencies, how best can illegal activities related to cryptoassets be combated, etc.

When a levelled ground has been finally built for the blockchain businesses in many countries across the globe, cryptoasset firms and adopters will be using the available legal framework to trade (buy and sell) digital currencies. This would mean that the market and the adoption range of blockchain and other decentralized technologies such as smart contracts will increase and the cryptocurrency industry will also see significant growth in the near future.

Original post:

Cryptocurrency and Politics: Government Officials Supporting the Industry - Coin Idol

Deutsche Banks Top Credit Strategist: I Am A Gold Bug. Fiat Money Is A Passing Fad In The History Of Money – Moguldom

Written by Dana Sanchez

Jul 23, 2020

Gold is having a good week withprices continuing to push higher while the U.S. dollar is pushed downward, stoking demand for anti-fiat alternatives.

Optimism about a global economic recovery has been overtaken by renewed fears over record-breaking new U.S. coronavirus cases.

Top Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid recently described himself as a gold bug, Goldseiten.de reported. Gold has seen extraordinary increases so far this year at a time of high global risk while central banks have worked in full rescue mode, according to Reid.

Reid said he thinks that fiat money will be a passing fad in the long-term history of money unusual tones for a renowned banker, Goldseiten reported.

Reid added that he thinks Gold is definitely a fiat money hedge and more importantly, a transition asset to whatever monetary system is next.

This isnt the first time Reid has predicted global realities may soon put the current fiat-money regime to the test. In 2017, Reid said the fiat currency system a term which describes any currency whose value is backed by the government that issued it, rather than by a commodity like gold or silver could be seriously tested over the next decade, Business Insider reported.

The U.S. dollar was convertible into gold until the mid-1930s, and was tied to the value of gold until the early 70s, when President Richard Nixon severed the relationship between the U.S. dollar and gold. As a result, inflation became less volatile, and deflation became a non-issue except in the oil crisis and recession of the late 1970s and early 1980s. With more flexibility to control supply and demand of currency, the Federal Reserve can limit the impact of major economic shocks.

Critics of gold advocates often use the argument that fiat currencies arent really worth anything since there isnt anything tangible that underpins its value, Jason Hall reported for The Motley Fool. Thats really not a very accurate description of a fiat currency, versus a gold standard. Simply put, the value ofanycurrency, whether a commodity or a fiat currency, is only relative to what peoplethinkits worth.

Reid admitted that with the exception of gold, he has always found many commodities difficult to recommend on a buy and hold basis as most underperform inflation over the long run probably as they are mostly used in production and alternatives are found if too expensive. We also become more efficient at using them.

Reid noted that between 1860 and 1971, the real price of gold fell by 75 percent. Since then, gold is up seven times, double its 1860s real level.

Central banks actively buoy up equities, whereas gold has been repeatedly knocked by monetary authorities, so its performance is impressive considering it has had to fight the Fed for almost 40 years.

Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 73: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin makes the case for why this is a multi-factor rebellion vs. just protests about George Floyd. He discusses the Democratic Partys sneaky relationship with the police in cities and states under Dem control, and why Joe Biden is a cop and the Steve Jobs of mass incarceration.

Gold is not a typical investment, former Rep. Ron Paul wrote in a 2010 guest column entitled Heres Why Governments Hate Gold.

It is a defense against the predictable behavior of governments to debase a fiat currency under its absolute control. The people who run the printing presses have trouble shutting them off.

Reid contended in 2017 that the fiat currency systemis inherently unstable and prone to high inflation. He wrote a paper discussing the start of the end of fiat money.

Deutsche Bank isnt known for its gold bugs, but that hasnt stopped its strategist, Thomas Colson wrote for Business Insider at the time.

Visit link:

Deutsche Banks Top Credit Strategist: I Am A Gold Bug. Fiat Money Is A Passing Fad In The History Of Money - Moguldom

Ronald Stammen – The Daily Standard

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2020

Ronald Stammen

Ronald N. "Ron" Stammen, age 71, of Fort Recovery, passed away July 21, 2020 at his residence.

He was born January 19, 1949, in Celina, to the late Melvin and Mary Rita (Huber) Stammen. On September 23, 1972, he married Mary Lou (Siefring) Stammen, who survives.

Also surviving are his children, Todd (Denise) Stammen of Wendelin, Marty (Jaymi) Stammen of Fort Recovery, Amy (Eric) Wendel of Fort Recovery, Chrissy (Aaron) Bergman of Wendelin, and Tony (Kayla) Stammen of Marion, OH; five siblings, Ken Stammen of Sharpsburg, Kathy (Ron) Ontrop of St. Henry, Dan Stammen of Sharpsburg and his friend Deb Ables of Celina, and Steve Stammen of Sharpsburg; 19 grandchildren; and in-laws, Dennis (Diana) Siefring of Fort Recovery, Larry (Kris) Siefring of Troy, Ed (Dana) Siefring of New Weston, John (Alice) Otte of St. Henry, and Donna (Steve) Braun of St. Henry.

He was preceded in death by a grandchild, Luke Stammen; a brother, John Stammen; and a sister-in-law, Pat Stammen; and in-laws, Ruth Otte & Dale Siefring.

Ron formerly drove semi for Wendel Poultry and retired from farming. He was a member of St. Paul Catholic Church, Sharpsburg and its Men's Society. He was also a member of the Progressive Sportsman Club, Fort Recovery and the Northwest Water Race Association.

Ron enjoyed spending time collecting and driving Allis Chalmers Tractors. His passion was swimming water race dogs especially, his trophy winning dogs Hooper and Nip.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be 10:30 am Friday, July 24, 2020 at Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church, Fort Recovery, with Fr. Christian Cone-Lombarte as celebrant. A live stream of the Mass will be available at http://www.fortrecoverycatholics.org/streamspot/. Social distancing will be observed at the funeral home and church. Burial will follow at St. Paul Cemetery, Sharpsburg.

Calling is 3:00 pm-8:00 pm Thursday and 9:00 am-10:00 am Friday at Brockman-Boeckman Funeral Home, Fort Recovery.

Contributions can be made to Fort Recovery Community Foundation.

Condolences may be directed to http://www.brockmanboeckmanfh.com.

Original post:

Ronald Stammen - The Daily Standard

The Big Ugly: Vinnie Jones stars in drive-in actioner – Newnan Times-Herald

Review By: Jonathan W. Hickman

Made in the classic tough-guy tradition, writer/director Scott Wiper (see 2000s A Better Way to Die) partners, once again, with actor Vinnie Jones on The Big Ugly, a handsome slice of moody, neo-noir.

In the film, an English crime boss named Harris (Malcolm McDowell) strikes a deal with American oilman, Preston (Ron Perlman), to launder ill-gotten gains. Preston is desperate for funding for a West Virginia drilling operation. He tried traditional lenders, but loans proved to be impossible. Harris, beaten down by years of running his dangerous operation, sees Prestons business as a way to go legit and retire.

Traveling to the rural American job-site, Harris brings with him from England his chief enforcer, Neeyln (Vinnie Jones). And after tying up a loose end, Harris, Preston, and Neeyln engage in some much needed partying. Neeyln is an alcoholic, and Harris is a recovering one.

The next morning, Neeyln wakes up to find his beloved wife, Fiona (Lenora Crichlow), not beside him. Hung-over and disheveled, Neeyln stumbles to the bar to ask questions. What he discovers is disturbing and, inevitably, leads to the discovery of Fionas body in a nearby creek. Naturally, Neeyln doesnt want just answers; he wants justice, and that means someones gonna get hurt, and someones gonna die.

Theres nothing particularly unique about Scott Wipers script for The Big Ugly. Its a familiar revenge narrative, punctuated by solid performances by rugged faces. If theres a deviation from the standard revenge yarn, its that Neeyln isnt a superman capable of dispatching a gang of roughnecks with a single blow.

Wiper takes time to develop the investigation. And that gives the otherwise stoic Jones a chance to emote into his role. Its a fairly good piece of acting, if undercut by some uneven performances by the younger parts of the cast.

As always, Perlman is a formidable presence, playing the oil-drilling patriarch, who spoils his philandering son, Junior (Brandon Sklenar). McDowell is particularly good as a world-weary gangster. Hes played this role in better films (see Paul McGuigans Gangster No. 1, for example), and, over the years, he's developed the stare, that sees through the violence recognizing painful realities. Memorable character actor Bruce McGill serves well as the menacing, violent, American counterpart to Neeyln.

The Big Ugly looks terrific. It's shot by cinematographer Jeremy Osbern, a Kansas-based cinematographer and filmmaker (see the highly-recommended Air: The Musical). Osbern worked in Newnan on the locally made feature The Fat Boy Chronicles. With The Big Ugly, he gets the look exactly rightcapturing a sweaty, dusty, and unforgiving landscape.

The Big Ugly is a perfect drive-in release this weekend. Its a film that harkens to that very American outdoor cinema experience, watching lurid, vulgar pictures from the comfort of our vehicles. But no matter how gritty and violent this movie is, Wipers ambition was to make it about the West Virginian experience, where theres a conflict between fracking and less destructive drilling techniques.

Theres a movie in that social and environmental issue. While The Big Ugly contains an undercurrent devoted to the local, long-time landowners squeezed by large corporate entities, this is ultimately a b-movie actioner. Revenge on-screen never seems to go out of style.

***

A RottenTomatoes.com Tomatometer-approved critic, Jonathan W. Hickman is also an entertainment lawyer, college professor, novelist, and filmmaker. Hes a member of the Atlanta Film Critics Circle, The Southeastern Film Critics Association, and the Georgia Film Critics Association. For more information about Jonathan visit: FilmProductionLaw.com or DailyFIlmFix.com

See the article here:

The Big Ugly: Vinnie Jones stars in drive-in actioner - Newnan Times-Herald

‘By all reports, things went really well:’ York County resumes jury trials amid COVID-19 – York Daily Record

Autoplay

Show Thumbnails

Show Captions

During his more than 30-year legal career, Rick Robinson estimates that hes conducted well in excess of 500 trials.

But when jurors had a question this last time, Robinson, a defense attorney in York, was faced with a dilemma: they were weighing the case inside the courtroom to ensure social distancing, instead of the jury deliberation room.

His client, Richard Schock, was being held in lockup while the jury deliberated because he couldnt post $100,000 bail on charges of drug delivery resulting indeath and related crimes.

But juries aren'tsupposed to know thatdefendantsareincarcerated thats highly prejudicial and could trigger a mistrial. Normally, deputy sheriffs first bring them out of the holding cell. Then, jurors reenter the courtroom.

So Robinson said he navigated through the York County Judicial Center and made it back to the holding cell. He and his client then walked from lockup and through the door to the courtroomtogether, as if they had simply been meeting in a conference room.

Welcome to criminal jury trials in the age of COVID-19.

READ: 'Wear a mask': Wolf, Levine say COVID-19 wave not over in Pa., during WellSpan Healthvisit

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, jurors are spaced out in the courtroom and don't all sit in the jury box to accommodate social distancing. The setup is shown recently in a smaller courtroom in the York County Judicial Center.(Photo: Paul Kuehnel, York Daily Record)

Now that Ive done two of them, Im kind of used to it, Robinson said. Under the circumstances, I thought it went pretty well.

In July, York County resumed holding jury trials for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic thats killed more than 140,000 people and upended everyday life in the United States.

Between July 6 and 17, judges conducted six criminal jury trials, Court Administrator Paul Crouse said in an email. The courts have implemented various safety measures, he said, including shifting counsel tables away from the jury box, creating more space between jurors and installing plexiglass barriers in several places.

Everyone whos in the presence of jurors has to wear a mask at most times. People have to undergo a temperature check before they enter the courthouse. Two criminal court judges instead of all five are holding trials at once.

Crousesaid whenever people receive a summons for jury serviceand complete their questionnaire online, they have the option to defer to a future date. Butvery few jurors expressed concerns about serving.

CHECK OUT: 50 lives: These Pennsylvanians share a similar tragedy, losing their lives to COVID-19

Plexiglass shields at the York County Judicial Center face the witness stand and the judge.(Photo: Paul Kuehnel, York Daily Record)

By all reports, things went really well, said President Judge Joseph C. Adams, who added that the judiciary next plans to see if the smaller courtrooms can work with social distancing.

On Monday, Adams entered an order extending the local judicial emergency through the end of 2020, which allows the courts to limit in-person access to hearings for health and safety reasons and use technology including Zoom to conduct some proceedings.

People must wear masks at all times in areas of the building directly accessible to members of the public. Elected officials can establish their own protocols for employees in areas of their departments that are not directly accessible to the public, according to the order.

When Shelva Innerest received her summons for jury duty, she said her first reaction was, Oh, no.

Innerst, 78, said she wasnt bothered because of COVID-19. Instead, she said, it was the third time that shes been called for service. But she decided to do her civic duty.

During her service, Innerst said, she had to wear a mask. Court staff limited the number of jurors in the elevator to four at a time. People practiced social distancing in the jury assembly room.

I felt comfortable, because they were taking a lot of precautions, said Innerst, a retired barista who lives in North Hopewell Township.

Ron Gross, a defense attorney in York, said he experienced some hiccups during a three-day trial.

First, Gross said, potential jurors were sitting out of order during jury selection. Lawyers had to address legal issues with the judge talking into a headset. And witnesses testified behind plexiglass.

It was definitely challenging, Gross said.

He expressed concerns that some of the changes could negatively reflect on defendants. The position of the tables, with the defense off to the side. The physical distance between defense attorneys and their clients. Jurors, he said, pay attention to nonverbal communication.

The experience, he said, was awkward and uncomfortable. But Gross said he believes that the criminal justice system is doing its best. Courtrooms, he said, are designed for people to interact.

ALSO OF INTEREST: York County Prothonotary's Office employee tests positive for COVID-19, but public not told

A temperature scanner is used on everyone entering the York County Judicial Center.(Photo: Paul Kuehnel, York Daily Record)

Deputy Prosecutor Mark Monroe tried two cases this month.

Monroe said the safety of everyone is of the upmost importance. So if that causes minor inconveniences, he said, its something you accept.

Because hes relatively new, Monroe said, he wasnt completely cemented in the normal way of doing trials. He said he was able to focus on his cases once the proceedings got underway.

I just appreciate that members of the community are willing to come in, Monroe said, and make sure the courts can fulfill their role of seeking justice.

Contact Dylan Segelbaum at 717-771-2102.

Read or Share this story: https://www.ydr.com/story/news/crime/2020/07/24/york-county-resumes-holding-jury-trials-with-precautions-amid-covid-19/5456207002/

View original post here:

'By all reports, things went really well:' York County resumes jury trials amid COVID-19 - York Daily Record

Ron Paul: Big Holes In The Covid ‘Spike’ Narrative – OpEd – Eurasia Review

Motorcycle accidents ruled Covid deaths? In the rush to paint Florida as the epicenter of the second wave of the coronavirus outbreak, government officials and their allies in the mainstream media have stooped to ridiculous depths to maximize the death count. A television station this weekend looked into two highly unusual Covid deaths among victims in their 20s, and when they asked about co-morbidities they were told one victim had none, because his Covid death came in the form of a fatal motorcycle accident.

Sadly, this is not an isolated incident. In fact the spike that has dominated the mainstream for the last couple of weeks is full of examples of such trickery.

Washington state last week revised its Covid death numbers downward when it was revealed that anyone who passed away for any reason whatsoever who also had coronavirus was listed as a Covid-19 death even if the cause of death had nothing to do with Covid-19.

In South Carolina, the state health agency admitted that the spike in Covid deaths was only the result of delayed reporting of suspected Covid deaths.

An analysis of reported daily Covid deaths last week compared to actual day-of-death in Houston revealed that the recent spike consisted largely of deaths that occurred in April through June. Why delay reporting until now?

We do know that based on this spike the Democrat mayor of Houston cancelled the convention of the Texas Republican Party. Mission accomplished?

Doesnt it seem suspicious that so many states have experienced delayed reporting of deaths until Fauci and his gang of experts announced that we are in a new nightmare scenario?

Last week in Florida which is perhaps not coincidentally the location of the Republican Partys national convention another scandal emerged when hundreds of Covid test centers reported 100 percent positive results. Obviously this would paint a far grimmer picture of the resurgence of the virus. Orlando Health, for example, reported a positivity rate of 98 percent a shocking level but a further investigation revealed a true positivity rate of only 9.4 percent. Those anomalies were repeated throughout the state.

Cases once meant individuals who displayed sufficient symptoms to be treated in medical facilities. But when the scaremongers needed a second wave they began reporting any positive test result as a Covid case. No wonder we have a spike.

Politics demands that politicians be seen doing something rather than nothing, even if that something is more harmful than doing nothing at all. That is why Washington is so addicted to sanctions.

The same has been true especially in Republican-controlled states in the US in response to the coronavirus. Faced with a virus that has killed about one-third as many people as the normal, seasonal flu virus in 2018, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has endorsed a partial shutdown of the economy resulting in millions tossed into the despair of unemployment. Then he arbitrarily shut down bars because massively increased testing showed more people have been exposed to the virus. And he mandated that people wear face masks. Neither shutting down bars (instead of restaurants or Walmarts) nor forcing people to wear masks will have any effect on the progression of the virus through society. But at least he looks like hes doing something.

We are facing the greatest assault on our civil liberties in our lifetimes. The virus is real, but the government reaction is political and totalitarian. As it falls apart, will more Americans start fighting for their liberty?

This article was published by RonPaul Institute.

Excerpt from:

Ron Paul: Big Holes In The Covid 'Spike' Narrative - OpEd - Eurasia Review

Local golf league results and upcoming events – News Chief

Results from golf league play around Polk County through July 20.

Results from golf league play around Polk County through July 20 with format, date, event and winners by flight or class in alphabetical order.

Big Cypress 18-Hole Ladies, Nine-Hole Event, Low Gross/Net, July 14: First Flight Gross - Heidi Aittama 34, Jan Turner 39, Net - Jennifer Renaud 34, Joanne Burkemper and Diana Berube both at 36; Second Gross - Anne Merritt and Jennifer Hostutler tied at 45, Net - Barb Fatzinger 33, Linda Kimberlin 34. Closest to pin: No. 5 - Heidi Aittama plus 2-19 HDCP, Linda Kimberlin 20+ HDCP.

Big Cypress Men's Thursday, Three Clubs and a Putter, July 16: First Flight - Joe Greco 72, Eddie Kiena and Ray Berube tied at 74; Second - Mike Schaeberle 73, Bob Chapman 75, Arnie Howard 73. Closest to pin: No. 5 - Joe DAmbrosio, Bob Chapman; No. 8 - Timmy Monahan; No. 13 - Ray Berube; No. 15 - Eddie Kiena, Eddie Lane.

Cleveland Heights Tuesday Men's, Draw and Quota Points, July 14: Herb Koffler/Dave Neal/Steve Criss plus 6, Keith Lohman/Paul Pelchat/Ron Moisuk plus 3, Mike Mimnaugh/Ron Berry/Dick Gebo plus 2. Closest to pin: No. A2 and C8 - Dennis Compton. Best Over Quota: A - Herb Koffler plus 6; B - Keith Lohman plus 5; C - Dave Neal plus 2.

Eaglebrooke Men's Early Morning Group, July 18: Team Best vs Average Score, July 18: Paul Rouleau/Mike Gilbert/Richard Grant/Tyler Wright minus 5.7, Wayne Fugett, Paul Meyer, Ladd Kline, Al Hanif minus 3.7. Team Point Quota, July 19: Smith Patterson/John Johnson/Kyle Thomas/Jeff Lang and Dan Girata/Albert Sagnella/Richard Grant/Tony Autorino tied at plus 11.

Hamptons Men's, Net Stroke Play, July 14: A Flight - Chuck Swafford 50, Joe DeBonis 54 on a match of cards over Bill Spivey; B - Terry Foster 54, Bob Miller 55, Bill Colclaser 57. Closest to pin: No. 5 - Joe DeBonis; No. 10 - Mark Torr.

Lake Ashton Blue Man Group, Four-Player Team, Best Net on Par 4s, Best Two Nets on Par 5s, Best Three Nets on Par 3s, July 15: Front 9 - George Wilkinson/Larry Griffin/Jim Fish/Ed Costello 36, Doug Stanforth/Ron Watterson/Gary Robillard/Ghost 39, Gator Patrick/Tom Anderson/Jim Smith/Nolan Hake 41; Back 9 - Joe Ricobonno/Steve Burrell/Bob Yeager/Ron Mckie 43, Jim Blackwell/Rich Burns/Jerry Getters/Mike Costello and Ken Engh/Art Luke/Jim Jameson/Norm Wirtala tied at 45.

Lake Ashton Ladies 18-Holers, Four Player Scramble, July 14: First Flight - Mafie Walker/Janis Vasquenza/Lynne Abbott/Marie Clauser 53.3, Colette McKie/Cheryl Coveleskie/Margaret Volpe/Pat Hodges 54, Cheryl Winchester/Mary Anne Stadfeld/Carole Ferrieri/Jackie Tressler 54.2.

Lake Ashton Ladies Niners, Four-Player Scramble, July 14: Carolyn Alvaro/Ann Lake/Diane Struble/Liz Meigel and Carol Zalesky/Brenda Arant/Carol Gillespie/Loretta Hieronimus tied at 25, Laverne Anderson, Linda Ford, Jane Poole, Missy Prescott 26.

Lake Ashton Men's, Two Best Nets Even Holes Plus Three Best Nets Odd Holes, July 15: Chuck Randall/Ron Mcdonnell/Mike Krigelski/Randall Carpenter 164, Rolly Geyer/Jim Capra/Tim Prokop/Jim Ford 165, Larry Wilson/Ted Hall/Don Connors/Courtney Smith 167.

Lake Bess 7 a.m. Tuesday Mens Scramble, Random Team Draw, July 14: Tom Houston/Pat Ferrio/Henry Adams/Joe Gulini minus 5. Closest to pin: No. 7 - Mark Detrick.

Lakeland Elks Lodge 1291 Monday League, Wedgewood, July 20: A Flight - Jim Preston plus 5, Bob Kutsch plus 4 on a match of cards over Carl Hatfield, B - Bill Soldrich plus 4 on a match of cards over Bob Fuschetti and Mike Powell. Closest to pin: No. 8 (50/50) and No. 15 - Bill Soldrich.

Ridge Men's, Wedgewood, July 16: Paul Forkner plus 5, Bobby Lassiter plus 3, Dob Smith and Dennis Johnson tied at plus 1. Closest to pin: No. 4, 11, 17 - Blake Tyler; No. 6 - Dob Smith.

Schalamar Creek Couples', 4 Person Scramble (9 Holes), July 15: First Flight - Richard Romero/Linda Romero/Glen Valentine/Ginger Valentine 34, Ted Reid/Ginny Reid/Don Taft/Kathy Taft 35.

Schalamar Creek Ladies', Low Gross/Low Net (9 Holes), July 14: First Flight Gross - Crystal Santopadre 50, Dianne Lang 52, Linda Romero and Carol Sutton tied at 38.

Schalamar Creek Men's, Two-Man Best Ball, July 13: Clayt Liljequist/Paul Loftis 59, Jim van DeVelde/Larry Smith and Greg Spencer/Glen Valentine tied at 61; Second - Jerry Throgmorton/Terry Phalen 56, Joe McElhenny/Don Gledhill 57, Don Abbott/Ed Herring 62.

TOURNAMENTS & LEAGUES

BARTOW INDIVIDUAL POINTS, Wednesdays, nine holes, make up your own foursome, $17 ($12 green fee and cart), pays all plus scores, night specials in the lounge. Call 863-533-9183.

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS MENS, tee times available 7:30-8:30 a.m. Wednesday through Monday and Friday, groups or individuals welcome, quota points with skins optional, eight to 10 groups now play. Call Paul Boeh at 863-738-4129.

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS TUESDAY WOMENS, every Tuesday, tee times start at 8:30 a.m. Call Shirley Kalck at 863-853-9566.

HUNTINGTON HILLS TWO-ASIDE, Saturdays, 18-Hole Points Quota. Check in by 8:15 a.m. Contact Terri White at 863-5594082 or eagle-2par@aol.com.

HUNTINGTON HILLS WHY WORRY WEDNESDAYS, Nine-Hole Quota Points, 5:15 p.m. shotgun start. Contact Terri White at 863-559-4082 or eagle-2par@aol.com.

LAKELAND MENS SENIOR GOLF, 7:30 a.m. shotgun starts, play against golfers within your handicap. Call Ed Young at 863-648-9695.

LPGA AMATEUR GOLF ASSOCIATION is looking for women and men to play in weekly Wednesday league and every other Saturday at various courses in the Winter Haven/Lakeland/Orlando and other areas. For more information, email Kathy Mannahan at pjacobs21@tampabay.rr.com.

POLO PARK MENS TUESDAY SCRAMBLE, 7:30 a.m. sign in. Random team draw. 18-Hole. For more information, call Polo Park Pro Shop at 863-424-3341.

POLO PARK MENS SATURDAY SCRAMBLE, 7:30 a.m. sign in. Random team draw. 18-Hole. For more information, call Polo Park Pro Shop at 863-424-3341.

RIDGE MENS THURSDAY QUOTA POINTS TOURNAMENTS, 7:30 a.m. tee time starts. Call Carroll Lasseter at 863-299-5350.

WEDGEWOOD THREE-MAN SCRAMBLE, nine holes; Tuesdays at 5 p.m.; call Marcus at 863-858-4451 by 2:30 p.m. to play.

WEDGEWOOD TWO-ASIDE GAME, 9 a.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays; 18-hole points game with skins and blind draw; call Marcus at 863-858-4451.

WEDGEWOOD MIXED CO-ED SCRAMBLE, 2 p.m. Thursdays. Call Marcus at 863-858-4451 by 1 p.m. to play.

E-mail results of local golf tournaments, aces and upcoming tournaments to mquinn@theledger.com; or mail to Golf News, Ledger Sports Department, P.O. Box 408, Lakeland, Fla., 33802. Include complete scores and league names. Deadline is Monday at 5 p.m.

Visit link:

Local golf league results and upcoming events - News Chief

The Life and Adventures of Ron Johnson: His Journey Through Multiple Untruths to the Fable of Obamagate – Just Security

The Lugar Center is a fairly recent addition of the sort of traditional institute in Washington that prevailed before Donald Trump. Its mission is to advance an internationalist foreign policy, bipartisan governance, and bring together experts to bridge ideological divides. It was founded by one of the last of the moderate Republicans, Richard G. Lugar, the late U.S. senator from Indiana, who once seemed to define the mainstream of a now bygone party, in the forefront of legislation to curb nuclear proliferation, but was purged in a brutal primary, losing to a Tea Party candidate who declared rape that resulted in a pregnancy was a gift from God.

On May 27, the Lugar Center released its first comprehensive Congressional Oversight Hearing Index, an in-depth study of the due diligence of every committee of the House of Representatives and the Senate in holding the executive branch accountable, concluding with a grade for each committee. If a House or Senate committee is failing to meet historical standards, because of partisan bias, the inattention of the committee chair, or any other reasons, the COHI will illuminate that shortfall, the Center stated. While many committees received high grades, the lowest gradean F for failurewas awarded to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The report observed that the committee previously had been one of the most active in the Senate, but that its hearing schedule had fallen dramatically. On the Lugar Centers carefully considered Bell Curve, the committee was at rock bottom and its chairman had flunked.

Trumps Senators

Just a week later, on June 4, that chairman, Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, who had come to power on the Tea Party wave that carried out Richard Lugar, rammed through authorization for 35 subpoenas to fulfill President Donald Trumps reported demand at a meeting on May 19 of Senate Republicans to get tough on the Obamagate conspiracy, a purported Deep State plot of the Obama administration and the intelligence community to destroy his presidency by investigating his campaigns links to and possible collusion with the Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Days before, on May 24, Trump declared, Im fighting the deep stateI have a chance to break the deep state. Its a vicious group of people. Its very bad for our country. And thats never happened beforeThey never thought I was going to win, and then I won. And then they tried to get me out. That was the insurance policy. Shes going to win [Hillary Clinton], but just in case she doesnt win we have an insurance policy. And now I beat them on the insurance policy, and now theyre being exposedAnd a lot of other things are going to come out, but you dont even need other things. What theyve done is so corrupt, theyve tried to take down a duly elected president of the United States, happens to be in this case, me, but we can never allow it to happen again.

Then he praised Ron Johnson as his champion. And I want to take my hat off to Ron Johnson. Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. The job hes doing is incredibleI see that a lot of subpoenas out. So its a much different thing. We caught them in a very corrupt, you could call it treasonous, because it is, its treasonous. We caught them in a very corrupt act.

On May 11, when asked at a press briefing to explain the crime Trump was accusing former President Barack Obama of having committed, he said, Its been going on for a very long time You know what the crime is. The crime is very obvious to everybody. A short while later, on May 13, Trump tweeted it was the greatest political scandal in the history of the United States, OBAMAGATE. Fake News@CNN and Concasts own MSDNC are only trying to make their 3 year Con Job just go away.

As Johnson geared up to send out his flurry of subpoenas, Trump tweeted encouragement to his tens of millions of followers, America is proud of Ron Johnson. He never gives up! Johnson retweeted, Thanks, @realDonaldTrump.

Every Democrat on both the Judiciary Committee and the Homeland Security Committee objected to the motion to issue subpoenas in pursuit of Trumps theories. I cant support this kind of dragnet authority to conduct politically motivated investigations, said Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, in response to the push from the Judiciary Committees chairman, Senator Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina. Senator Gary Peters of Michigan, the ranking member on Homeland Security, called it a fishing expedition which did not become a priority until we entered into an election year. Then both committees approved on a Republican party line vote the authority to grant a total of 88 subpoenas to plumb the mysteries of Obamagate.

Enter Barrs Justice Department

While Trump was furiously tweeting about Obamagate and urging on Ron Johnson, Attorney General William Barr stepped from behind his curtain to make a statement on May 18 about the ongoing investigation of the origins of the Russia investigation being conducted by his appointee, U.S. Attorney John Durham. In light of Trumps accusation of criminality aimed at former President Obama, Barr clarified that Obama and Biden would not be targets. Whatever their level of involvement based on the level of information I have today, I dont expect Mr. Durhams work will lead to a criminal investigation of either man. He added, Our concern over potential criminality is focused on others. Then he offered misleading words in his usual banal style: As long as Im attorney general, the criminal justice system will not be used for partisan political ends. This is especially true for the upcoming elections in November.

But Barr indicated something other than Olympian reserve above the campaign fray. His statement, while intended to make his actions appear purely non-political, laid out the political scenario for when the scheme will reach its crescendo. He pointed Durham to target and prosecute Obama subordinates for potential criminality. Without naming names, Barrs list consists of those very same former prominent officials on the subpoena lists of Ron Johnson and Lindsey Graham. Those lists are the ramshackle skeleton of the Obamagate conspiracy theory: former CIA director John Brennan, former director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former FBI director James Comey, former national security advisor Susan Rice, former ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, and a host of former intelligence community officers who have long been hate figures in the Trump demonology. (As a matter of course, the Democrats request to add the gallery of Trump usual suspects to the subpoena list was blocked: Michael Cohen, Michael Flynn, Rudy Giuliani, Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, and more.)

An agitated Barr would not allow his signaling in his May 18 remarks to remain his last. We cant discuss future charges, but . he said in an exclusive interview on June 10 with Fox News, as he then proceeded to discuss future charges. But people should not draw from the fact that no action has been taken that taken yet [sic], that that means that people or people are going to get away with wrongdoing. Barr repeated the Trump conspiracy theory including parts that fly in direct contradiction of a Justice Department Inspector General conclusions on the matter: For the first time in American history,police organizations and the national security organizations were used to spy on a campaign, and there was no basis for it. The media largely drove that, and all kinds of sensational claims were being made about the president that could have affected the election. And then and then later on, in his administration, there were actions taken that really appear to be efforts to sabotage his campaign. Barr promised that Durham was looking at a whole range of Obama officials to indict.

The Two Rivers Meet

The summer hearings seem barely disguised as preparation for an October Surprise. Barr has emerged from the shadows just as the previously moribund Senate committees suddenly have stirred to life as Obamagate star chambers. In a symbiotic relationship, the Senate operations will orchestrate propaganda for Fox News and the Wurlitzer of right-wing media in an overture to Durhams report and possible indictments that may be sprung during the climax of the presidential campaign. Im going to do this through October, Graham tellingly said in a June 5 interview onFox News. At his hearing authorizing subpoenas, he filled the air with threatening cries. Comey and McCabe and that whole crowd their day is coming,he said. He felt compelled to demean Robert Mueller and the Mueller Report as off script. The lengthy list of names he brandished need to be fired, they need to be disciplinedthough none are in any current government position from which they could be fired or disciplinedor, Graham threatened, they are good candidates to go to jail. Another Republican member of the committee, Senator Chuck Grassley, of Iowa, appearing to have a flashback, railed about Hillary Clinton. What did Hillary Clinton know about the dossier and when did she know it? he chimed in. But Hillary Clinton is not on the subpoena list, at least for now.

Ron Johnsons statement at the June 4 meeting of the Homeland Security Committee in which he hammered through his authority to mass produce subpoenas made plain that a good deal of the animating motive and guiding focus of both the Senate and Durham investigations is the case of Michael Flynn, Trumps first and short-lived national security advisor.

Flynn committed perjury by lying to the FBI about his discussions after the election with the Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak, telling him not to retaliate in kind to U.S. sanctions imposed under Obama because there would be a new policy under Trump, an implication that the sanctions would be lifted. Flynn then lied about his conversations to Vice President Mike Pence, who publicly repeated his falsehoods. Through the FBIs Crossfire Hurricane investigation into whether Trumps associates were cooperating or conspiring with Russia to influence or interfere in the 2016 election, Flynns contacts were discovered and exposed. He was fired by Trump, pled guilty twice and then sought to rescind his plea. In December 2019, the Inspector General of the Department of Justice, David Horowitz, issued a report stating that the standard for predication, opening an FBI investigation into Flynns Russian ties, was legitimately authorized, based on an articulable factual basis that [he] may wittingly or unwittingly be involved in activity on behalf of the Russian Federation which may constitute a federal crime or threat to the national security, and finding no evidence of political bias or improper motivation.

What Really Happened with Flynn

On February 14, 2017, the day after Flynns dismissal, Trump pressured FBI director James Comey not to open an investigation. I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go. The Mueller Reportconcludedthat the circumstances of the conversation show that the President was asking Comey to close the FBIs investigation into Flynn. Trump directed Flynns deputy, K.T. McFarland, to write a document to confirm that Trump had not directed Flynn. She refused and instead wrote a memo to the White House legal counsel to memorialize the irregular request that appeared like a quid pro quo in exchange for an ambassadorship, according to the Mueller Report. When Comey refused to drop the Flynn probe, Trump fired him, triggering the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate the Russian interference in the election. Trumps personal attorney John Dowd called Flynn and left a voicemail for him: We need some kind of heads up. Um, just for the sake ofprotecting all our interests, if we can, without you having to give up anyconfidential information.Then he called Flynns attorney to warn him that if theres information thatimplicates the president, then weve got a national security issue. Trump refused to provide a written answer to Muellers question to him about Flynn.

On May 5, Barrs Justice Department filed a motion to dismiss the case against Flynn, who was awaiting sentencing. Barrs filing claimed that the FBI investigation was conducted without any legitimate investigative basis, Flynns lies lacked materiality, he was somehow tricked by the FBI agents into lying, and anyway the FBI really didnt think he was lying. The DOJ prosecutor quit the case in protest. In a report on the DOJ motion on June 10 to the judge overseeing the case, U.S. District Court judge Emmet Sullivan, former federal judge John Gleeson stated that the DOJs claims are not credible, and instead are preposterous, and riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact. The facts surrounding the filing of the Governments motion to dismiss constitute clear evidence of gross prosecutorial abuse, Gleeson wrote. They reveal an unconvincing effort to disguise as legitimate a decision to dismiss that is based solely on the fact that Flynn is a political ally of President Trump. On Trump and Barr, Gleeson concluded, If the Executive wishes for the Judiciary to dismiss criminal chargesas opposed to issuing a pardon or taking other unilateral actionthe reasons it offers must be real and credible.

The Tracks of Senator Johnsons Disinformation

Seeking to dominate the battlespace for Trumps retribution, Lindsey Graham and Ron Johnson have been assigned the task of serving subpoenas throughout the long hot summer, the equivalent of lobbing flash grenades and tear gas to clear the path for Barrs march to October. Johnsons statement to his committee, amounting to his order of battle, was a haphazard series of distortions, omissions and half-truths, which he claimed were undisputed, his characteristic method, as he said, to challenge the false narrative against Trump.

Well, no, the Steele Dossier, compiled by Christopher Steele, the former MI6 British secret service agent who had spent much of his career doing intelligence work in Russia, was not, as Johnson asserted, ordered up by the DNC and Clinton campaign to produce fabricated foreign opposition research. Steele was in fact initially hired by the conservative website The Free Beacon and paid by Republican donor Paul Singer to help the Jeb Bush campaign. There has been no proof that the Steele Dossiers principal substantive allegation regarding the Russian effort to assist in Trumps election was false, or that the information was manufactured by the Russian government or its agents deliberately using Steele as its outlet. On the contrary, the U.S. intelligence community as well as the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence have stated that the Russian government and its intelligence services intervened in the election to help Donald Trump. Some of the indisputable facts of that interference are set forth in the Mueller investigations indictment of 13 Russian agents and three Russian companies, including the Internet Research Agency, which the group itself described as information warfare against the United States, using fraud and deceit for the purpose of interfering with the U.S. political and electoral processes, including the presidential election of 2016. supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump (Trump Campaign) and disparaging Hillary Clinton. The Mueller Report, moreover, identified 272 contacts between Trump agents and Russian operatives, not one of which was reported to the FBI. Mueller stated, the investigation established that several individuals affiliated with the Trump Campaign lied to the Office, and to Congress, about their interactions with Russian-affiliated individuals and related matters. Those lies materially impaired the investigation of Russian election interference.

Well, no, despite Johnsons insistence, it was not the Steele Dossier that was used to instigate an FBI investigation of the Trump campaign and obtain FISA warrants. The origin of the investigation can be traced to the former foreign minister of Australia and ambassador to the UK, Alexander Downer, who was alarmed after Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos informed him that Russia indicated to the Trump campaign that the Kremlin could assist in the election through the anonymous release of derogatory information on Clinton. Downer told his government, which in turn related it to the FBI, which then interviewed him.

Well, no, the unmasking of Trump officials by dozens of political appointees in the waning days of the Obama administrationthat is, national security and law enforcement officialswas neither unusual nor illegal. And, as it happened, Flynn, often claimed to have been unmasked, was not after all masked in the FBI document on his conversations with the Russian ambassador.

Well, no, Flynn was not the innocent victim of a surprise FBI interview. His perjury cannot be blamed on being startled. No FBI agent instructed him to lie. And, well, no, the case against Flynn would not have been dismissed on the basis of an FBI memo that was suddenly suppressed. And so on.

Johnsons tendentious complaint amounts to a defense of Trump on the curious assumption that the FBI has no legal predicate to engage in counter-intelligence operations against foreign adversaries, particularly Russia in light of its history of corrupting American officials and intelligence officers, not that Johnson or the staffers who wrote his statement grasp the absurdity of their own argument. In order to vindicate Trumpand Flynnboth of them must be the victims of the Deep State (i.e., the U.S. intelligence community, State Department and professionals of the Justice Department), who must be the true perpetrators, and the official findings of culpability for those who have committed crimes must be reversed. The Department of Justice has a solemn responsibility to prosecute this caselike every other casewithout fear or favor and, to quote the Departments motto, solely on behalf of justice, stated former judge Gleeson. The perversion of justice requires the inversion of the storyline.

Senator Joseph McCarthys Successor

Johnsons mlange of misleading assertions may be fabricated, but it is also prefabricated. The rickety edifice of his argument was manufactured prior to arriving at his shop, indeed, delivered to him with instructions and quickly constructed. His value appears to be in following instructions. If he were an imaginative flimflam man in his own right, Trump (and Barr) would not rely on him to perform as expected. (In this respect he stands as a contrast to Lindsey Graham.) Johnsons method is apparently second-hand, borrowed from Trump, who acquired its secrets from his first lawyer and mentor in the dark arts, Roy Cohn, who honed it as counsel to another senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy.

The original technique perfected by McCarthy was best described by Richard H. Rovere, the writer for The New Yorker, who knew McCarthy and was the author of the most incisive biography. Rovere wrote:

The multiple untruth need not be a particularly large untruth but can instead be a long series of loosely related untruths, or a single untruth with many facets. In either case, the whole is composed of so many parts that anyone wishing to set the record straight will discover that it is utterly impossible to keep all the elements of the falsehood in mind at the same time. Anyone making the attempt may seize upon a few selected statements and show them to be false, but doing this may leave the impression that only the statements selected are false and that the rest are true. An even greater advantage of the multiple untruth is that statements shown to be false can be repeated over and over again with impunity because no one will remember which statements have been disproved and which havent.

The Senate hearings on Obamagate promise to be a cavalcade of witnesses, each linked in a chain of a conspiracy so immense to prove the multiple untruth. The witnesses appearances under subpoena project a perceived assumption of guilt, as McCarthy instinctively understood when he exploited his senatorial immunity to use the Chamber as the stage setting for a courtroom where his accusations never had to meet the rules of evidence. Even the odd disconnected fact that somehow arises in the Obamagate hearing will be, as it was by McCarthy, hammered out of shape and into line to fit the larger untruth.

But Ron Johnson is no Joe McCarthy, who was, at least before Trump, the most gifted demagogue ever bred on these shores, according to Rovere, a fertile innovator, a first-rate organizer and galvanizer of mobs, a skilled manipulator of public opinion, and something like a genius at that essential American strategy: publicity. McCarthy was a little noticed sleazy Republican senator, pocketing money on the side from various lobbyists, and looking for a dramatic issue to exploit for his reelection when at a dinner a companion suggested that he use his perch as chairman of the subcommittee on Permanent Investigations to seize on Communist subversion. Thats it, said McCarthy. The government is full of Communists. In a speech in 1950 at Wheeling, Wester Virginia, he told a Lincoln Day gathering of a Womens Republican Club that he had the names of 205, or 81, or 57 Communists in the State Department. His crusade of Multiple Untruth was off to the races, the first against the Deep State, accusing not only the State Department but also the CIA and the Army of being infiltrated by Communist agents, and accusing General George C. Marshall of being part of a conspiracy so immense. McCarthys youthful counsel, Roy Cohn, created new investigations to ferret out subversives and homosexuals when McCarthy himself was stumped for fresh targets. McCarthy played the Washington press corps like a Stradivarius, inventing stories as he walked the corridors of the Capitol with reporters, terrorized two presidents, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower, reached 50 percent approval with the public (a number that Trump has never attained), and was allowed free rein by his fellow Republican senators until his utility as a weapon to smear Democrats as traitors ended when he veered too far off the rails in his attack on the Army. He was censured (Senator Prescott Bush of Connecticut was prominent in proposing the motion), fell into an alcoholic stupor and drank himself to death.

Roy Cohn went back to New York, where he would meet Donald Trump and introduce him to the Mafia families who were Cohns clients and would pour the concrete for Trump Tower. Cohn would teach him his methods of intimidation and deceit, and before his death from AIDS pass his handling over to his protege Roger Stone, who made his chops as a ratfucker doing dirty tricks in Nixons reelection campaign and became Trumps chief political advisor.

In 2016, Stone apparently kept Trump closely informed in advance of Wikileaks schedule for publication of Clinton campaign emails stolen by Russian military intelligence. In written testimony to Muellers questions, Trump denied any such knowledge. But in the unredacted version of the Mueller Report, the special counsel wrote that the Presidents conduct could also be viewed as reflecting his awareness that Stone could provide evidence that would run counter to the Presidents denials and would link the President to Stones efforts to reach out to WikiLeaks. Stone was scheduled to report to federal prison on June 30 for seven counts of federal crimes including lying to Congress, witness intimidation and obstruction of justice, before being sprung by Trumps commutation that raises questions whether the two might be prosecuted in the future for obstruction of justice. The line from McCarthy to Trump, from demagogue to demagogue, is just a hop, skip and jump.

Johnsons Political Groundings

In Ron Johnsons telling, the miraculous revelation that he should run for the U.S. Senate struck him in a single blinding moment like St. Paul on the road to Damascus. A voice spoke to him. I was sitting at home watching Fox News and Dick Morris came on, he recalled. The polymorphous perverse political consultant, a Fox News talking head, in 2010 flacking for the Tea Party, from which he was personally profiting with a series of front groups, uttered these inspirational words: You know, if youre a rich guy fromWisconsin, step up to the plate. Johnson turned to his wife and asked, Is he, like, talking to me?

Johnson had not run for any political office before. He was an accountant who made his fortune the old-fashioned way: he married it. His wifes brother, Patrick Curler, installed him as president in the family business, which Curler had inherited from his father. The Pacur company (named for Pat Curler), based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, manufactures specialty plastic wrapping for medical devices among other products.

Johnsons most notable public appearance before his Senate run was as a witness in early 2010, testifying before a state senate committee hearing against the Child Victims Act that would eliminate the statute of limitations for reporting crimes of pedophilia. The Green Bay, Wisconsin Catholic Diocese had just confessed that there were substantial allegations of sexual abuse of minors against 48 priests. Johnson, a Lutheran, was a member of the dioceses financial council, which would be involved in any compensation, and he made the novel argument that efforts at achieving justice would only have the perverse effect of leading to additional victims of sexual abuse if individuals, recognizing that their organizations are at risk, become less likely to report suspected abuse. Johnson, however, failed at the time to inform the committee of his membership on the Churchs finance counsel. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, which identified him as an Oshkosh businessman, reported, Johnson had little to say about the victims of sexual abuse in his testimony. His was largely a financial concern. The bill was also opposed by the insurance industry. Johnson later explained he was concerned about its financial effect on other groups and businesses. The bill was successfully killed. Johnsons shielding of child molesters in the priesthood was his first success in public policy.

In 2009, a year before Johnson said he heard the commanding voice of Dick Morris, he was already speaking at Tea Party rallies, the start of his self-financed campaign for the Republican senatorial nomination. Im happy to associate myself with the people of the Tea Party, he said. But few knew who he was, he seemed vague about specific Tea Party doctrines and Tea Party groups denied that they endorsed his candidacy. Yet his money overwhelmed opposition and wariness. When he gained the nomination at the state convention, he admitted, I think what was most gratifying to me about it is it really wasnt endorsing me because people dont really know who I am. He was elected in the Republican wave of 2010, defeating the incumbent Democrat, Senator Russ Feingold.

Johnson proved himself to be a reliable party-liner. He called Obamacares provision for contraception an assault on religious freedom, accused Planned Parenthood of being vested in the barbaric practice of harvesting human organs, insisted there was no scientific evidence for climate change, tried to gut financial regulation, and, echoing what he heard on Fox News, took to denouncing The Lego Movie, which he labeled insidious anti-business propaganda. The films cartoon villain was an evil businessman. Thats done for a reason, he explained. Our news media is not on our side, certainly not entertainment media.

There was one other position on which Johnson hewed to the party line: the Obama administrations supposed weakness toward Vladimir Putin, a megalomaniac and a danger to the civilized world. Johnson demanded in 2015 that Obama take a more aggressive stance against Russia, especially on Ukraine. Obama, he charged, had not taken the time to explain why Vladimir Putins aggressive expansion threatens our national security and the world order.

When Trump clinched the Republican nomination for president, but before the Republican National Convention, Johnson tried to create some degree of separation from him. His endorsement, he said, would not be a big embrace. Ill certainly be an independent voice where I disagree with a particular nominee. After the Access Hollywood tape was disclosedGrab em by the pussyJohnson behaved as though Trump would lose. Im not going to defend the indefensible, he said. But I will hold whoever is our president accountable. At a campaign rally just before the election, Johnson called for Hillary Clinton to be impeached for her emails when she became president. Im not a lawyer, he said. I would say, yes, high crime or misdemeanor.I believe she is in violation of both laws. He may have never realized how foolish that sounded.

With Trumps freakish victory Johnson instantly transformed himself into a courtier. He was more than a dependable vote, more than another Republican who held his tongue and held on for dear life. He has aggressively inserted himself into peculiar situations abroad, suddenly popping up in the middle of Trumps clandestine relationships with Russia and Ukraine, and giving murky explanations for why he was there, what he was doing and who sent him. In Moscow and Kyiv, here was Sinclair Lewis Babbitt-like American archetypal figure from the 1920s, the conventional businessman booster from the small-town Midwest, as Zelig, Woody Allens nebbish chameleon who makes startling appearances ingratiating himself with almost every celebrity of the same period. The key to both fictional personalities is the urge for conformity. Johnsons one-dimensional lack of complication has landed him in the midst of tangled situation. His simple-minded Republican ambition to get ahead has propelled him into Trumps abyss, which he has mistaken for a ladder of success.

Johnson Goes to Russia

What does July 4thh mean to me? Freedom, tweeted Ron Johnson, on July 4th, 2018. He celebrated that day in Moscow with a group of seven other Republicans. (There were no Democrats on this congressional delegation.) The Republicans announced that they hoped to meet with Putin, who would have a summit with Trump the next month in Helsinki, where Trump declared that he accepted Putins statement that Russia had not interfered in the U.S. election. But Johnson and the others were not granted an audience with the Russian leader. Instead they were greeted by Sergei Kislyak, the former Russian ambassador to the United States, Michael Flynns interlocutor, and now a member of Russias upper house of parliament. We heard things wed heard before, and I think our guests heard rather clearly and distinctly an answer that they already knewwe dont interfere in American elections, said Kislyak. Another Russian official they met, Duma member Vyacheslav Nikonov, said he had met with many American lawmakers in years past and that this meeting was one of the easiest ones in my life, according to the Washington Post. The question of election interference, he said, was resolved quickly because the question was raised in a general form.One shouldnt interfere in electionswell, we dont interfere, Nikonov said. The Post reported: On Russian state television, presenters and guests mocked the U.S. congressional delegation for appearing to put a weak foot forward, noting how the message of tough talk they promised in Washington changed a bit by the time they got to Moscow. We need to look down at them and say: You came because you needed to, not because we did, Igor Korotchenko, a Russian military expert, said on a talk show on state-run television.

As soon as Johnson returned home, on July 7, the former hardliner on Russia told the right-wing Washington Examiner that hes worried that Congress over-reacted to Russias election interference, which resulted in legislation that tied Trumps hands with mandatory sanctions. Ive been pretty upfront that the election interference as serious as that was, and unacceptableis not the greatest threat to our democracy, he said. Weve blown it way out of proportion[as if its] the greatest threat to democracyWe need to really honestly assess what actually happened, what effect did it have, and what effect are our sanctions actually having, positively and negatively.He added, And I think youd be hard-pressed to say that sanctions against Russia are really working all that well.

The next day, TASS, the Russian state news service, publicized: US Sanctions Against Russia Not WorkingUS Senator Johnson. Sputnik International headlined: GOP Senator After Moscow Visit: US Sanctions On Russia Not Working That Well. Johnson had provided a propaganda coup for Putin.

Later that July, Trump was busily engaged in what the Mueller Report documented as the fourth of his ten obstructions of justice against the investigation into his collusion with Russian interference in the 2016 election: The President Orders [Chief of Staff Reince] Priebus to Demand [Attorney General Jeff] Sessionss Resignation. Trump was obsessed with raising a conspiracy theory that the Clinton campaign had colluded with Ukraine against him to counter the reality of what Russia actually had done. The Mueller Report cited his tweet of July 25, 2017: Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump campaignquietly working to boost Clinton. So where is the investigation A.G.

Trump soon worked his obsession into an elaborate multiple untruth that it was Ukraine that hacked the DNC server, not Russia, that Ukraine falsely blamed Russia, that when the FBI attempted to retrieve the server Ukraine gave it to the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which he claimed was a Ukrainian company and supposedly hid the server in order to protect Hillary Clintons role in the secret plot against him. None of these claims were true.

Fiona Hill, the National Security Council senior director on Europe and Russia, in her testimony before the House impeachment committee, called Trumps story an alternative narrative that undermined U.S. interests and aided Russia. These fictions are harmful even if they are deployed for purely domestic political purposes,she said. This alternative narrative is a Trump conspiracy theory that could be quashed by facts, yet became an impetus behind Johnsons investigation, one of his Holy Grails.

Even before Johnsons mission to Moscow, Trump had for months been piecing together the operation that would attempt to force an investigation into Joe Bidens alleged promotion of his son Hunter Bidens business interests in Ukrainea charge that was entirely false and has been repeatedly refutedand would eventually seek to force an exchange for the manufacture of that political smear for U.S. military aid to Ukrainethe proposed transaction that was the grounds for Trumps impeachment. Johnson would soon plunge right into the middle of the Trump teams machinations in Ukraine.

The Ukraine Scheme

In April 2018, Trump hired Rudy Giuliani, as his personal attorney, who in turn hired two associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, Russian born businessmen living in Florida, where they had contrived a variety of sketchy schemes. (One of Parnas firms, Fraud Guarantee, which had no identifiable customers or office, paid Giuliani a $500,000 consulting fee.) At a dinner at the Trump Hotel on April 30, Parnas reportedly told Trump that the U.S. ambassador Marie Yovanovitch was unfriendly to the president and his interests, that her presence stood in the way of the Giuliani operation. Trump vehemently replied that she should be fired.

The effort to discredit and oust Yovanovitch was launched immediately. On May 9, Parnas and Fruman got Congressman Pete Sessions, a Republican of Texas, to write a letter to the State Department demanding her dismissal, claiming she had spoken privately and repeatedly about her disdain for the current Administration, in exchange for a promise to raise $20,000 in campaign contributions through a pro-Trump super PAC, America First Action. Sessions appeared as Congressman-1 in the federal indictment of Parnas and Fruman. Parnas and Fruman committed to raising those funds for Congressman-1. Parnas met with Congressman-1 and sought Congressman-1s assistance in causing the US Government to remove or recall the then-US Ambassador to Ukraine, the indictment stated.

Giulianis group quickly added new partners, who reportedly met regularly to plan their strategy, using the Trump Hotel as their headquarters. There was, secretly, Congressman Devin Nunes, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee with an incorrigible penchant for arcane conspiracy theories, and his aide, Derek Harvey. There were the conservative husband-and-wife team of lawyers, Joseph DiGenova and Victoria Toensing, Fox News talking heads, who represented not only Parnas and Fruman but also the Ukrainian oligarch Dimitri Firtash, who had been Putins man in Kyiv and was under indictment for corruption by a U.S. federal court. And there was John Solomon, the ubiquitous right-wing journalist, who, according to theColumbia Journalism Review,has a history of bending the truth to his story line and distorting facts and hyping petty stories.As it happened, DiGenova and Toensing were his attorneys, too.

Beginning in March of 2019, the team instigated Solomon to produce a series of convoluted articles in his venue, The Hill newspaper in Washington, that asserted that Ambassador Yovanovitch had conspired with Hillary Clintons campaign and George Soros and his agents to leak damaging information about Paul Manafort, Trumps campaign chairman and the former political consultant for the Russian backed president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovich, and that the ambassador conspired to suppress Ukrainian investigations into corruption in order to cover up Joe Bidens involvement in his sons business. Solomon also wrote that Firtash was a victim of the Soros group and framed by Robert Mueller to get some dirt on Donald Trump. I said, Giuliani explained, John, lets make this as prominent as possible.Ill go on TV. You go on TV. You do columns.

Trumps personal assistant, Madeleine Westerhout, provided Giuliani with contact information for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. God almighty I have a lot of stuff in writing, Giuliani said, and on March 28 sent over to Pompeo a dossier containing Solomons articles trashing Yovanovitch. On April 5, six former U.S. ambassadors sent the State Department a letter expressing deep concern about recent uncorroborated allegations against here that are simply wrong.

Yovanovitch sought advice on how to handle Solomons onslaught from Gordon Sondland, Trumps ambassador to the European Union, a former hotelier who had given Trumps inaugural committee a large donation. Sondland told her, You need to go big or go home, suggesting that she tweet out there that you support the president. She also consulted Kurt Volker, the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations. It will all blow over, he said.

Meanwhile, William Barr, Trumps attorney general, prepared to go where his predecessor, Jeff Sessions, had not.

On April 10, 2019, Barr announced that he was launching an investigation into both the genesis and the conduct of intelligence activities directed at the Trump campaign, and emphatically added that spying did occur. Four days later he appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham to conduct the probe. I think its a great thing that he did it, Trump said. I am so proud of our attorney general that he is looking into it. I think its great. On April 24, Trump told Sean Hannity of Fox News that in fact an investigation had unearthed evidence of a plot on the part of Ukraine to help elect Hillary Clinton, sounds like big, big stuff, and Im not surprised. Giuliani tweeted, Keep your eye on Ukraine.

On April 24, Yovanovitch received an abrupt telephone call from Carol Perez, director general of the State Departments foreign service.She said that there was a lot of concern for me, that I needed to be on the next plane home to Washington. And I was like, What? What happened? And she said, I dont know, but this is about your security. You need to come home immediately. You need to come home on the next plane. And I said, Physical security? I mean, is there something going on here in the Ukraine? Because sometimes Washington has intel or something else that we dont necessarily know. And she said, No, I didnt get that impression, but you need to come back immediately. And, I mean, I argued with her. I told her I thought it was really unfair that she was pulling me out of post without any explanation, I mean, really none, and so summarily.

I do wonder why its necessary to smear my reputation falsely, Yovanovitch testified before the impeachment committee, Shady interests the world over have learned how little it takes to remove an American ambassador who does not give them what they want.

George Kent, the deputy assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, confirmed her account in his testimony. Mr. Giuliani, at that point, had been carrying on a campaign for several months full of lies and incorrect information about Ambassador Yovanovitch, so this was a continuation of his campaign of lies. About John Solomon and his stories, Kent was scathing. It was, if not entirely made up in full cloth, it was primarily non-truths and non-sequiturs. But the State Department ordered Kent not to complain. I was told to keep my head down and lower my profile in Ukraine, he said. The intimidation signaled that the Giuliani operation was in charge.

On May 19, Trump gave an interview to Fox News brazenly laying out the conspiracy theory he wanted to be affixed to Biden. Biden, he calls them and says, Dont you dare persecute, if you dont fire this prosecutorThe prosecutor was after his son. Then he said, If you fire the prosecutor, youll be okay. And if you dont fire the prosecutor, Were not giving you $2 billion in loan guarantees, or whatever he was supposed to give. Can you imagine if I did that?

Johnsons Front Row Seat

A day after Trumps interview on Fox News, Ron Johnson wandered into the scene. On May 20, in Kyiv, he attended the inauguration of the new Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, in the company of Sondland, Volker, and Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, the former governor of Texas. Perry seems likely to have had his own ulterior agenda. He would secure a lucrative oil and gas deal from Ukraine for two of his political supporters, who also happened to have hired Giulianis law firm, after Perry proposed that Zelensky take one of them as an adviser. At the same time, Giuliani was rooting around Kyiv, trolling for disinformation to use against Biden and meeting with people close to Yuri Lutsenko, the prosecutor general, embittered at Yovanovitch and Biden for their anti-corruption efforts. Lutsenko had met previously with Giuliani and Parnas, volunteered himself as a source for Solomons stories, but finally had a falling out with Giuliani when he failed to initiate an investigation into Biden.

Johnson came to Kyiv brandishing credentials as a close observer of the state of play. Serving as chairman of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation and vice chair of the Senate Ukraine Caucus, he had advocated military aid since the Russians had invaded eastern Ukraine in 2015. He arrived amidst the upheaval at the embassy, the orchestrated publicity campaign against Yovonavitch and her sudden removal under the cloud of a false threat to her security. Johnson was surely aware of the broad nature of these events but apparently made not a murmur of protest. He presented himself as an expert on the ground and influential figure in his own right, but he was beginning his career as an innocent abroad.

Upon the delegations return to Washington, the four men met on May 23 with Trump in the Oval Office. Their agenda, according to Johnson, was to secure a statement in support of Ukraine, an invitation to Zelensky to the White House and the appointment of a new ambassador with strong bipartisan support. Trump was having none of it. He said that Ukraine was a corrupt country, full of terrible people, Volker testified. He said they tried to take me down. In the course of that conversation, he referenced conversations with Mayor Giuliani. It was clear to me that despite the positive news and recommendations being conveyed by this official delegation about the new president, President Trump had a deeply rooted negative view on Ukraine rooted in the past. He was clearly receiving other information from other sources, including Mayor Giuliani, that was more negative, causing him to retain this negative view. It was apparent to all of us that the key to changing the Presidents mind on Ukraine was Mr. Giuliani, Sondland testified. When the meeting was raised during the impeachment, Johnsons mind went blank on Sondlands account. I am aware that Sondland has testified that Trump also directed the delegation to work with Rudy Giuliani, he wrote. I have no recollection of the president saying that during the meeting. It is entirely possible he did, but because I do not work for the president, if made, that comment simply did not register with me. After the meeting, Sondland, Volker and Perry, anointed to work with Giuliani, dubbed themselves the three amigos.

Indeed it was that Oval Office meeting, Ambassador William Taylor testified, in which the irregular channel began, with the three amigos, White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and Giuliani in pursuit of Ukraine investigations of Biden in exchange for military aid and a White House visit.

One other man was present at the May 20 meeting, Charles Kupperman, deputy to National Security Advisor John Bolton, who reported back to Bolton. It was a classic, Bolton wrote in his memoir, The Room Where It Happened:

I dont want to have any fucking thing to do with Ukraine, said Trump. They fucking attacked me. I cant understand why. Ask Joe diGenova, he knows all about it. They tried to fuck me. Theyre corrupt. Im not fucking with them. All this, he said, pertained to the Clinton campaigns efforts, aided by Hunter Biden, to harm Trump in 2016 and 2020. Volker tried to intervene to say something pertinent about Ukraine. Trump replied, I dont give a shit. Perry said we couldnt allow a failed state, presumably a Ukraine where effective government had broken down. Trump said, Talk to Rudy and Joe. Give me ninety days, Perry tried again. Trump interrupted, Ukraine tried to take me down. Im not fucking interested in helping them, although he relented to say Zelensky could visit him in the White House, but only if he was told how Trump felt in the matter. I want the fucking DNC server, said Trump, returning to the fray, adding, Okay, you can have ninety days. But I have no fucking interest in meeting with him.

Trumps violent obscenities, contempt for Ukraines precarious security, obsession with conspiracy theories, bottomless sense of personal grievance, and complete knowledge and command of the Giuliani operation somehow escaped Johnsons memory and were airbrushed from his account.

Two weeks earlier, Trump had summoned Bolton to a meeting in the Oval Office with Giuliani. Also present were Trumps chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and legal counsel Pat Cipollone. Trump ordered Bolton to work with Giuliani in dredging up material to be used against Biden and influencing Zelensky to start an investigation. Bolton simply ignored Trumps directive. He wanted no part of what he called a drug deal. Even after they became public, I could barely separate the strands of the multiple conspiracy theories at work, Bolton wrote in his memoir.

Giuliani continued his gyrations for an investigation of Biden, but Zelensky did not start a probe and Trump withheld the nearly $400 million in military aid that the Congress had approved. The stalemate led to Trumps notorious perfect phone call to Zelensky on July 25. Trumps statement at the top of the conversation was often cited: I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it. But what followed, the part spelling out the favor, was his demand for confirmation of his conspiracy theory and for Ukraine to work with Barr to pursue it. I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say Crowdstrike I guess you have one of your wealthy people The server, they say Ukraine has it. There are a lot of things that went on, the whole situation. I think youre surrounding yourself with some of the same people. I would like to have the Attorney General call you or your people and I would like you to get to the bottom of it. As you saw yesterday, that whole nonsense ended with a very poor performance by a man named Robert Mueller, an incompetent performance, but they say a lot of it started with Ukraine. Whatever you can do, its very important that you do it if thats possible. In short, the object of the Trump-Zelensky call, a key piece of evidence in Trumps impeachment, is the same object that is central to the overarching conspiracy theory of Obamagate.

Two weeks earlier, on July 11, Johnson jumped down a rabbit hole to follow the trail of the Trump conspiracy theories. The White Rabbit that Johnson chased was a heavy set and shady Ukrainian named Andrii Telizhenko, a former low-level employee at the Ukrainian Embassy to the U.S. who had parlayed himself into Giulianis fixer, boasting of smoking fine cigars and sipping expensive whiskey with him from Kyiv to New York. Telizhenko was a man of many dubious deals. He had offered a Ukrainian magazine editor cash to lobby Republican senators on behalf of two pro-Russian media outlets in Ukraine that broadcast propaganda in favor of the Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine, according to a CNN report. Telizhenko was also the consultant for international relations for Pavel Fuks, the Ukrainian oligarch who had reportedly been Trumps partner to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. (Fuks was also Giulianis client.)

Telizhenko was a fertile source of conspiracy theories for Giuliani, which he retailed to an avid Trump, who insisted to everyone from his attorney general to his national security advisor that they prove to his satisfaction. Telizhenkos tales ranged from Bidens corruption to how the Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S. ordered him to work with the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee to dig up damaging information on Paul Manafort. (Telizhenkos talent was featured on numerous programs broadcast by the pro-Trump, far right One America News Network, including The Ukraine Hoax: Impeachment, Biden Cash, and Mass Murderand Ukrainian Witnesses Destroy Schiffs Case Exclusive with Rudy Giuliani, in which Giuliani interviewed him.) Borys Tarasiuk, Ukraines former foreign minister, familiar with Telizhenkos antics for years, told the Kyiv Post, Idont think that this person deserves much attention. Hes a crook.

I was in Washington, Telizhenko recalled, and Senator Johnson found out I was in D.C., and staff called me and wanted to do a meeting with me. So I reached out back and said, Sure, Ill come down the Hill and talk to you. Telizhenko told the Washington Post that he and Johnson discussed a whole range of theories, particularly the DNC issue, focusing on what the Post described as his unsubstantiated claim that the Ukraine Embassy directed him to find incriminating material on Manafort. Seeking a comment from Johnson, the Post received this strange and uninformative response: An individual close to Johnson confirmed that staff members for one of his committees met with Telizhenko as part of an ongoing investigation into the FBI and its probes of the 2016 election. The person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, declined to say whether the senator was involved. Telizhenko resolved that mystery, posting a picture of himself meeting with Johnson on his Facebook page. How Johnson knew that the peripatetic Telizhenko was briefly in Washington was left unexplained.

Johnson returned to Kyiv to meet with Zelensky on September 5, this time accompanied by Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, and the new U.S. ambassador William Taylor. Zelenskys first question to the senators was about the withheld security assistance, Taylor testified before the impeachment inquiry. Both senators stressed thatbipartisan support for Ukraine in Washington was Ukraines most important strategic asset and that President Zelensky should not jeopardize that bipartisan support by getting drawn into U.S. domestic politics. Yet that day Trump extended the hold on the aid.

The whole affair burst open on September 9. Michael Atkinson, the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community notified the House and Senate intelligence committees that a whistleblower had filed a complaint on August 12 about Trumps pressure on Ukraine to investigate Biden as the price for releasing military aid. The House demanded the release of the complaint and announced it would investigate Trump and Giulianis operation. On September 10, Bolton resigned. On September 11, Trump released the Ukraine aid. On September 25, the White House released a version of Trumps perfect call asking Zelinsky to do us a favor, though. On September 27, Volker resigned. That day, Johnson and Grassley sent a joint letter to Barr, citing Telizhenko as their source, demanding, Are you investigating links and coordination between the Ukrainian government and individuals associated with the campaign of Hillary Clinton or the Democratic National Committee? If not, why not?

Johnson Digs a Hole

On October 3, Trump held an impromptu press conference on the South Lawn of the White House. Mr. President, what exactly did you hopeZelenskywould do about the Bidens after your phone call? asked a reporter. Well, he replied, I would think that, if they were honest about it, theyd start a major investigation into the Bidens. Its a very simple answer. Then he added, And by the way, likewise, China should start an investigation into the Bidens because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine. Trumps remarks caused an uproar, taken as a brazen confession about Ukraine and committing another offense in his call for China to interfere for his political benefit.

Visiting the Middleton, Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce, Ron Johnson immediately defended Trumps comments. I want to find out what happened during 2016, he said, adding about Trumps call for China to investigate Biden, Idont think theres anything improper about doing that. The next morning, moving on to Sheboygan, Johnson tried to clean up his statement. No, and Im not sure thats whats happening, he said, denying Trump was calling on China to interfere in American politics.

Then Johnson leaped into the breach in a valiant effort to absolve Trump. He seemed to believe that by disclosing previously unknown stories he could be the hero. But in two interviews he gave on October 4, one to the Wall Street Journal and the other to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Johnson seemed to provide further evidence of Trumps guilt and dissembling, and made himself appear to be playing the fool.

To the Wall Street Journal, Johnson claimed that in a phone call on August 31 Trump flatly denied any quid pro quo of Ukraine political assistance for U.S. military aid. He said, Expletive deletedNo way. I would never do that. Who told you that? Johnson explained that he had learned about the quid pro quo from Sondland the day before. Sondland, he said, told him Ukraine would appoint a prosecutor to get to the bottom of what happened in 2016if President Trump has that confidence, then hell release the military spending. Johnson went on: At that suggestion, I winced. My reaction was: Oh, God. I dont want to see those two things combined.

To the Journal-Sentinel, Johnson elaborated on the August 31 call with Trump. I tried to convince him to give me the authority to tell President Zelensky that we were going to provide that. Now, I didnt succeed. The Milwaukee paper reported, Trump said he was considering withholding the aid because of alleged corruption involving the 2016 U.S. election. Johnson stood by the president, saying he was sympathetic to his concerns and didnt see any bad motives on his part.What happened in 2016? What happened in 2016? What was the truth about that? Johnson said about Trumps concerns.

With his stumbling interviews, Johnson revealed that he had been aware of the internal discussions about a quid pro quo before they were made public with the disclosure of the whistleblowers complaint, that rather than seek the truth of the matter he accepted Trumps falsehoods, and confirmed that Trumps motive involved not one but two conspiracy theories, one about Biden and the other about DNC server. Johnson also appeared to have inadvertently made himself into a material witness in an impeachment inquiry with a conflict-of-interest in serving as a juror in a Senate trial. Republican Sen. Ron Johnson just did Trump no favors on Ukraine, ran the headline on an analysis in the Washington Post by Aaron Blake. Johnson apparently thought [he] might help President Trump weather his Ukraine problem. But what he said was decidedly unhelpful for Trump.

Instead of rescuing Trump, Johnson had created more trouble. His effort to wipe up his little mess trying to justify Chinese interference had led to a bigger mess that seemed to implicate Trump in all the charges against him. Johnson now tried to contain his muddle with more damage control. He booked himself on NBCs Meet the Press for Sunday, October 6. His performance was an overlooked minor absurdist classic, half Samuel Beckett and half Abbott and Costello. Johnson was waiting for Godot to arrive with the answer to his quandaries while explaining who was on first.

The dialogue started with Chuck Todd, the host of Meet the Press, playing himself as an earnest journalist asking the question that should be asked, in other words, the straight man. Let me start with something you told the Wall Street Journal late last week. You had said when Mr. Sondland Gordon Sondland seemed to imply that the frozen military aid was connected to a promise by Zelensky for investigations, you said, At that suggestion, I winced. My reaction was, Oh God. I dont wanna see those two things combined. Why did you wince and what did you mean by those two things combined?

Johnsons opening lines established a tone of whining victimization followed by a non sequitur. Well, fir first of all, your setup piece was you know, typically, very unbiased. But, you know, le let me first, before I started answering all the detailed questions, let me just talk about why Im pretty sympathetic with what President Trump has gone through. You know, Im 64 years old. I have never in my lifetime seen a president, after being elected, not having some measure of well wishes from his opponents. Ive never seen a presidents administration be sabotaged from the day after election. I Ive never seen no no measure of honeymoon whatsoever. And so what President Trumps had to endure, a false accusation by the way, youve got John Brennan on you oughta ask Director Brennan what did [FBI agent] Peter Strzok mean when he texted [FBI agent] Lisa Page on December 15th, 2016? (Strzok had been removed from the Mueller investigation after his text messages to Page, which contained anti-Trump sentiments, were disclosed.)

With the formalities of throat clearing out of the way, the interview took off. It is worth quoting at some length to convey the full extent of the Trump defender dissolving into dogmatic incoherence in the face of the skeptical reportorial question.

CHUCK TODD:

I have no idea why

SEN. RON JOHNSON:

Were gettin no, thats thats

CHUCK TODD:

why

See the original post:

The Life and Adventures of Ron Johnson: His Journey Through Multiple Untruths to the Fable of Obamagate - Just Security

‘What in the hell are we doing?’ Senate Republicans clash over coronavirus relief – NBC News

WASHINGTON Beset by internal divisions and clashes with the Trump administration, Senate Republicans downplayed the prospects Tuesday of enacting new coronavirus relief before key programs like boosted unemployment payments expire.

Republicans continue to negotiate among themselves but broadly oppose an extension beyond this week of the $600 weekly federal jobless benefit that millions of Americans are collecting. Complicating Republican talks is the White House, which is trying to cut funding for COVID-19 testing and demanding a payroll tax cut that many in the president's party oppose.

Talks with Democrats, who will be needed to pass the bill, haven't even begun.

Full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak

At a meeting of Republican lawmakers Tuesday, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas cast doubt on the spending talks, asking, "What the hell are we doing?" according to a Republican source familiar with his remarks.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who was more optimistic about negotiations, and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows were at the meeting.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said any bill must include enhanced liability protections, but he offered few other details of what he will propose.

"I'm going to introduce a bill in the next few days that is a starting place that enjoys fairly significant support among Republican senators, probably not everyone," he said after the meeting.

McConnell said Senate Republicans "overwhelmingly" oppose extending the $600-a-week unemployment supplement because they believe it's a deterrent to work, but he said there's "room for negotiation."

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said after a caucus meeting Tuesday, "There's a lot of disagreement amongst the members."

In May, the Democratic-led House passed a $3.4 trillion bill that would extend the emergency jobless benefits through January; approve additional aid for families, workers and businesses; and tack on other progressive provisions. Senate Republicans have roundly rejected the bill but are struggling to unite around an alternative that would satisfy competing priorities within their party.

"We haven't reached a conclusion on anything," said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La.

Let our news meet your inbox. The news and stories that matters, delivered weekday mornings.

Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics

McConnell said that after he gets Republicans on board, his proposal will be used as a starting point for bipartisan discussion. He needs at least seven Democratic votes.

"Clearly, they have the ability to prevent us from passing anything, and that's been their mindset lately," he said. "And so I think it's pretty clear they're not irrelevant. We do have to talk to them."

Asked later whether he expects a bill to pass by end of next week, McConnell laughed and said "no," according to a pool report.

After the meeting, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said that Senate Republicans came to "some recognition that we need to do something more" with jobless benefits but that there was no agreement on what.

One of Trump's top priorities, the payroll tax cut, came up "only briefly" and without details, Cassidy said. Funding for state and local governments is "still a little bit of a work in progress," he said.

There were no discussions of how much money to put into the Paycheck Protection Program, the loan program for small businesses. Senators and administration officials didn't discuss the parameters of another round of stimulus payments.

"It was all very 60,000-foot," Cassidy said.

Divisions are widening between Senate Republicans, some of whom are pushing against new spending and others of whom eager to return home next month with assistance for their ailing states.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who faces a tough re-election battle, said there are "far higher priorities" than a payroll tax cut, which she called "extremely expensive" with limited impact.

"It would only benefit individuals who are working. It also would displace other spending that I think is far more important," Collins told reporters Tuesday.

McConnell also cast doubt on the idea.

"There are some differences of opinion on the question of the payroll tax cut and whether that's the best way to go. And so we're still in discussion with the administration on that," he said.

Even Pat Toomey, R-Pa., one of the most pro-business, anti-tax members of the Senate, is undecided on whether to support a payroll tax cut, he told NBC News on Tuesday.

McConnell said his one red line is that the bill must include liability protections for businesses, schools, hospitals and other entities as long as they're not "grossly negligent" upon reopening.

A headache for party leaders is that some are dead set against new federal spending.

"I just came out of a Republican caucus meeting that could be sort of the Bernie bros progressive caucus," said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., comparing GOP senators to supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. "I'm alarmed that we're talking about spending another trillion dollars we don't have."

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said he's "not supporting any new spending right now," and he suggested that Congress instead repurpose funds that have already been authorized.

Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said that McConnell wants to limit the cost of a new bill to $1 trillion and that some senators said that would constrain their policy options.

The Republican divisions are likely to strengthen the negotiating hand of Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., because failing to act while the number of coronavirus cases is rising could be politically disastrous for Trump and his party heading into the election.

Cassidy said top administration officials are holding preliminary talks with Democrats.

"Mnuchin and Meadows are meeting with Pelosi and Schumer, I think, this afternoon," he said. "They said we're not negotiating, we're just kind of establishing the framework by which to proceed."

More here:

'What in the hell are we doing?' Senate Republicans clash over coronavirus relief - NBC News

Lovers of liberty lose big with Justin Amash’s reelection decision – Washington Examiner

Unfortunately, the vast majority of people who know who Libertarian Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan is view him through the lens of where he (and they) stand on President Trump.

Thats a pity.

The congressman was the only Republican to support the articles of impeachment against Trump, and the negative reaction from the MAGA-centric GOP base was just as extreme as Resistance Democrats rush to embrace him. The heat from conservatives would become so hot that Amash would soon leave his party to become an independent and then eventually embrace his identity as a tall L Libertarian in full, even briefly seeking that partys presidential nomination.

Trump-loving righties did not care that Amash had the most fiscally conservative record in Washington, just as much as Trump-hating lefties did not care, or at least ignored, that Amashs unshakable small-government political philosophy ran counter to their collectivist or socialist agendas. Both camps perceptions of Amash were all about Trump. They still are.

On Thursday night, amid that climate, Amash announced he would not be seeking reelection for his seat, leaving it to the two major parties to duke it out. A conventional Republican or Democrat will no doubt fill that seat.

But Amash was always anything but conventional. Long before the current president radically shuffled our politics, one would be hard-pressed to find a stauncher defender of the Constitution and the nation's founding principles than him. On civil liberties, foreign policy, the drug war, the size of the government, taxation, education, systemic racism, social tolerance, religious liberty, and more, Amash always stood for the Bill of Rights and individual rights against the authoritarian tendencies in both parties.

One of the highlights of Amashs political career came in the wake of whistleblower Edward Snowdens 2013 revelations that the U.S. government was mass-surveilling its citizens in every way imaginable. Amashs amendment to rein in NSA surveillance that year failed 205-217, a close loss that resulted in a failure to protect the public's Fourth Amendment privacy rights but cemented the Michigan congressman as one of the leading civil libertarians in Washington.

Amash was one of the few libertarian Republicans to get elected in the wake of then-Rep. Ron Pauls popular 2008 and 2012 grassroots presidential campaigns, along with fellow House member Rep. Thomas Massie and Pauls son, Sen. Rand Paul, all of whom have led the libertarian faction of the Republican Party for the last decade.

Each of these three men has virtually the same voting record when it comes to policy. They only differ on their approach to Trump. But since Trump is the only thing that has mattered to anyone for the last four years, what leaders actually stand for has mattered less than crude tribalism. Conservatives who are glad Amash will be gone because he dared to defy their glorious leader have nary a principle to stand on in making such an argument. Liberals who once, and might still, praise Amash for defying his partys president completely disagree with him on what government should or should not do.

Amash has remained an unwavering libertarian throughout his decade in Washington, and you arguably wont find a more dedicated champion of the principles that founded this country than this son of immigrants who aspired to become a U.S. congressman out of a pure desire to do what he thought was right.

Whatever happens in November and no matter where you stand on the president, Trumps indelible mark on our politics will not soon pass. For lovers of liberty, neither will Amashs.

Jack Hunter (@jackhunter74) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. He is the former political editor of Rare.us and co-authored the 2011 book The Tea Party Goes to Washington with Sen. Rand Paul.

See the article here:

Lovers of liberty lose big with Justin Amash's reelection decision - Washington Examiner

"Another Level Of Stupid" Stories That Are Totally Facepalm-Worthy – BuzzFeed

"I once had to take my husband to seek medical care at a 'doc-in-the-box' situation. When doing the usual triage routine, the tech took his weight and height. She said, 'OK, youre 189 pounds and 6'1".' He said, 'What!? Ive always been 5'11.' And she said, 'No, youre definitely 6'1". He kind of puffed up for a minute, feeling all tall and cool, and said, 'Huh! maybe I grew since the last time I was measured.'

"We got to the exam room and he said to her again, 'Are you sure? Ive always thought I was 5'11".' And she said, 'No, definitely. Youre 71 inches, so 6 feet 1 inch.'

"My husband and I exchanged glances. 'Oh, no, 71 inches is 5'11",' he said.

"She said, 'No, Im 61 inches and Im 5 feet 1 inch, so if youre 71 inches, youre 6 feet 1 inch!' And he said, 'Yeah, but...feet have 12 inches, not 10, so 71 inches is 5 feet and 11 inches.' She said, 'Well, thats how we do it here.'

"I literally choked on my water. My husband and I couldnt make eye contact until she left the room, and then we freaked out. It was hilarious and terrifying that this medical tech didnt understand basic measurement."

sabrinas4d511817b

Continue reading here:

"Another Level Of Stupid" Stories That Are Totally Facepalm-Worthy - BuzzFeed

What We Learned From New FOIA Documents About The DOJs Wire Act Opinion – OnlinePokerReport.com

Freedom of Information Act documents turned over to New Jersey paint more of a picture of what happened leading up to and in the wake of the Department of Justices decision to alter its opinion on the federal Wire Act in 2018.

Online Poker Report has received the results of the request from NJs attorney general. AG Gurbir Grewal was looking for information relating to outside groups lobbying efforts in the FOIA request. In particular, he was trying to find a link between the DOJ opinion and casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, a longtime opponent of online gambling in the United States.

The 2018 Wire Act opinion from the Office of Legal Counsel changed the DOJs stance on the Wire Act, saying it applies to all forms of interstate gambling, not just sports betting. That stance threatens the legality of online casinos, online poker and online lotteries in states that have legalized any of those things, in addition to other things, including multi-state lottery products.

A federal court has already rejected the new DOJ memo; the case is still active in appeals court.

Heres what we learned from the FOIA documents. While there is no smoking gun linking Adelson or his lobbying group to the DOJs change on the Wire Act, it does detail interactions between the department and outside sources.

All documents and emails referenced below are from the FOIA request.

The FOI uncovered that as early as March of 2017, some at the DOJ were already looking at changing the departments opinion on The Wire Act. According to guidance from the DOJ in 2011, the Wire Act applied only to sports betting and other forms of gambling that might cross state lines.

This correspondence took place more than a year and a half before the new OLC memo (written in 2018, and released in early 2019). It also roughly coincides with outside efforts to effect this change from a law firm (Cooper and Kirk) that works with the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling. CSIG is believed to be bankrolled by Adelson.

Heres an email from February of 2017, an introduction of a lawyer for a firm that works with CSIG, that likely led to a memo from Cooper and Kirk on the Wire Act.

That led to email exchanges in 2017 where CSIG lawyers were interacting with the DOJ in March and trying to set up a meeting. The email below is from Acting Chief of Staff and Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General James Mann:

More on DOJ actively engaging with someone from Steptoe on the issue, which seems to imply the DOJ working actively with outside sources regarding the Wire Act opinion:

CSIG, as we already knew before the FOIA, submitted its Wire Act memo in April 2017:

The issue continued to have momentum in May:

Graham is Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has long advanced Adelsons agenda on other topics as well as online gambling.

The issue made its way to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein a week later in a memo that was entirely redacted except for a footnote:

While not a smoking gun, it would be quite the coincidence if these lobbying efforts started and the reaction started soon thereafter. The DOJ attempts to distance itself from those lobbying efforts in answering reporters questions after the Wire Act opinion was released in 2019:

Interestingly, the CSIG had a press release ready to go soon after the Wire Act opinion was released.

Then acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker denied any influence in the crafting of the opinion.

Regardless, a lot of the heavy lifting on the early understanding of the Wire Act opinion happened well in advance of the opinion actually dropping, and a lot of people in the DOJ were thinking about it.

This is perhaps not shocking, as the DOJ is part of the executive branch.

Nevertheless, multiple people at the White House (WH below) were interested in what was going on around the Wire Act. This could just be standard operating procedure to loop in White House on a change in the interpretation of the law, but there was a lot of White House interest.

Here is an email chain that came just as Online Poker Report broke the news that a Wire Act opinion was coming (the Twitter post referenced is a link to OPRs story in December):

More from a few days later:

More after the opinions release:

The FOIA request had hoped to turn up more evidence that Adelson was working with the DOJ and/or the White House to change the Wire Act interpretation. While it didnt do that, it did demonstrate a lot of White House involvement that could potentially be explained by the normal course of business.

Adelson has been a large donor to the campaign of President Donald Trump and has demonstrated he has the presidents ear on other issues.

The FOIA request also turned up lots of correspondence with the DOJ about the 2011 and 2018 Wire Act opinions.

Notable, former US Sen. Ron Paul urged the DOJ to keep the opinion in place way back in June of 2017:

Its not entirely clear why Paul was writing this at this exact moment in time, but he had been an opponent of repeated Congressional efforts to change the Wire Act to cover online gambling.

Former Nebraska attorney general Jon Bruning also wrote the DOJ asking for the 2011 opinion to stand, according to the FOIA documents.

The FOIA also includes a number of other letters regarding the status of the opinion before and after it was issued.

A sidenote to all the documents in the request: Shortly after the US Supreme Court ended the federal ban on sports betting, the NCAA and the NFL had a meeting with the DOJ. This had been previously reported.

Its not clear if the Wire Act would have come up at this meeting, but it is included in the FOIA documents:

A letter from the NCAA and NFL to the DOJ did mention the Wire Act in passing.

Read more here:

What We Learned From New FOIA Documents About The DOJs Wire Act Opinion - OnlinePokerReport.com

AUTO RACING: Mitchell outduels Puckett in Twin 45s – Evening News and Tribune

JEFFERSONVILLE Jeremy Mitchell and Ricky Puckett dueled Saturday night at Sportsdrome Speedway.

The two went back and forth in theXtreme 8 Bud Light Mania Twin 45 races.

Mitchell, the fastest qualifier, beat Puckett in the first 45-lap race. Puckett, however, countered and took the checkered flag in the second 45-lap race over Mitchell. Mitchell was the overall winner by points, though, while Puckett took second. Mike Berry, who finished fourth in both races, was third overall while Darrin Greenwell, who was sixth and third respectively in the two races, finished fourth overall and Steve Moneypenny, fifth in both races, was fifth overall.

Also Saturday night, Nick Cooper took the checkered flag in the 28-lap Race8 Pro Fwd while Austin Baum was the fastest qualifier, and the winner, of the Pro Fwd Oval.

In the Ford Oval races, Jesse Suell won the 30-lap A Feature No. 1 while Perry Whitsett took the checkered flag in the 30-lap A Feature No. 2.

In the Ford Figure 8, Robbie Greenwell crossed the finish line first in his orange No. 40 ahead ofMarcus Elliott and Daniel Lister.

The final race of the night, the Ford Powder Puff, was a last-lap dash. In the end, Maranda Jane held off a fast-gaining Miranda Basham at the finish line.

SATURDAY'S RESULTS

XTREME 8 BUD LIGHT MANIA TWIN 45S

Fastest qualifier:Jeremy Mitchell 21.431

Overall finish:1. Mitchell,2. Ricky Puckett,3. Mike Berry,4. Darrin Greenwell,5. Steve Moneypenny,6. John Groulx,7. Doug Wicker,8. Tom Johnson,9. Todd Whitfield,10. Jake Wells.

1st 45-lap race:1. Mitchell,2. Puckett,3. Wicker,4. Berry,5. Moneypenny,6. Greenwell,7. Groulx,8. Johnson,9. Whitfield,10. Wells.

2nd 45-lap race:1. Puckett,2. Mitchell,3. Greenwell,4. Berry,5. Moneypenny,6. Groulx,7. Johnson,8. Josh Logsdon,9. Whitfield,10. Wells.

RACE8 PRO FWD8

Heats (from July 11th):Ty Scott, Ryan Seay

28-lap feature:1. Nick Cooper,2. John Franzell,3. Alex Bube,4. Brandon Dalton,5. Tom Johnson,6. Billy Hines,7. Dean Riley,8. Morgan Jeffries,9. Donald Coffey,10. Brian Isgrigg.

PRO FWD OVAL

Fastest qualifier:Austin Baum 15.944

Jurek's LawnCare 40:1. Baum,2. Brandon Dalton,3. Nick Cooper,4. Jamie Bierman,5. Zach Curtis,6. John Franzell,7. CJ Higgins,8. Alex Bube,9. Carter Cook,10. David Gilliland.

FORD OVAL

30-lap A Feature No. 1:1. Jesse Suell,2. James Blanchard,3. Joel Smith,4. Paul Taylor,5. Daniel Durrett,6. Carl Harding,7. Paul Hartlage,8. Ron Phillips,9. Robbie Greenwell,10. Leonard Blanchard.

30-lap A Feature No. 2:1. Perry Whitsett,2. Adam Grimsley,3. Zach Minton,4. Marcus Elliott,5. Brandon Winters,6. Derek Smith,7. Denny Wilder,8. John Lister,9. Jason Adams,10. Ken Tungett.

FORD F8

30-lap feature:1. Robbie Greenwell,2. Marcus Elliott,3. Daniel Lister,4. Paul Hartlage,5. Andy Perryman,6. Ricky Puckett,7. Jacob Robertson,8. Joel Smith,9. Derek Smith,10. Justin Groulx.

FORD POWDER PUFF

30-lap feature:1. Maranda Jane,2. Miranda Basham,3. Christina Jessie,4. Leslie Blanchard,5. Katie Shelton,6. Kaci Franklin,7. Krista Tungett,8. Tiffany Shelton,9. Brandi Tungett,10. Kyla Hall.

Read more:

AUTO RACING: Mitchell outduels Puckett in Twin 45s - Evening News and Tribune

Births – July 19 – News from southeastern Connecticut – theday.com

L+M Hospital

JUNE 17 - A daughter to Brian and Emily Austin of North Stonington; a son to Shaina Noyes of Niantic; a son to David Aponte and Candice Stamm of New London.

JUNE 18 - A daughter to Christopher Reynolds Jr. and Nikia Bibeau of Baltic; a son to Benjamin and Sarah Hansen of Ledyard; a son to Jonnathan Morocho and Jessica Juarez of New London; a daughter to Anthony and Ashley Reyes of Groton; a daughter to Joseph and Erica McCarthy of New London; a daughter to Jeffrey and Laura Opila of North Stonington.

JUNE 19 - A son to Andrew and Chelsea Wydler of Mystic.

JUNE 20 - A son to Joshua and Heidi Byrne of Stonington; a son to Joseph and Kasey Giancaspro of Ledyard; a son to Robert and Melissa Paul of Groton; a daughter to Cam'Ron and Ronisha Tolliver of New London.

JUNE 22 - A daughter to Frank Almonte and Lissette Guzman of Groton; a son to Eric and Cassie Shewbridge of Waterford.

JUNE 23 - A son to Alex and Gabrielle Day of Groton; a son to Juan Silva and Zaidamary Lucena-Martinez of New London.

JUNE 24 - A son to Jacob Hildebrand and Paige LaFlamme of Norwich; a daughter to Mary Land of Groton.

JUNE 25 - A son to Andrew Blacker and Kerri Croteau of Groton; a son to Justin and Samantha Ludka of Groton.

JUNE 26 - A daughter to Keith and Kelsey Gomes of Oakdale; a son to Bryan and Cassandra Grote of Waterford; a daughter to Ramon Sanchez Jimenez and Nairoby Ovalle de Sanchez of New London; a daughter to Admilson Gomes and Stephanie Sagen of Groton.

JUNE 27 - A daughter to Michael and Katelyn Johnson of Groton; a son to Marcus and Anastacia Knight of Gales Ferry.

JUNE 29 - A daughter to Omar Diaz and Liandra Hodge-Diaz of New London; a son toJeffrey and Tabatha Silva of Plainfield; a daughter to Siddharth Sharma and Puja Singh of Groton.

JULY 1 - A daughter to Victor Sanieljimenez and Yesenia Avila of Groton; a daughter to Victoria Marcum of East Lyme; a daughter to Matthew and Kayla Orowson of East Lyme; a son to Denys Lopez and Merlin Pavon of New London.

JULY 2 - A daughter to John and Sarah Boozam of Westerly; a son to Thomas and Caryn Dittmeier of Old Lyme; a daughter to Joseph and Jennifer Malerba of Old Lyme; a daughter to Zachary Dawson and Nicole Riske of Pawcatuck.

JULY 3 - A son to Casey Raffield and Kassia Olszewski of Ledyard.

JULY 4 - A daughter to Ryan and Brittany Kahl of East Lyme; a daughter to Joshua and Ashley Katt of Groton.

JULY 5 - A son to Robert Gosselin III and Christine Santos of Groton; a son to Andres Rojas Mendieta and Viviana Romero Corte of New London; a daughter to Chavon Sheppard and Nicole Kelly of Westerly.

Backus Hospital

JULY 5 - A son to Juan Chach Tojand Lorena Mayic Moreno of Willimantic; a daughter to Naoym Nationand Melanie Cataldo of Norwich.

JULY 6 - A son to Zacharyand Kellie Semmelrock of Bozrah; a daughter to Carlos Nunez Avilaand Benedicta Palomino of Norwich.

JULY 7 - A daughter to Joshua McDadeand Carlie Bemis of Uncasville; a son to Vincentand Amy Pontarelli of Dayville.

View post:

Births - July 19 - News from southeastern Connecticut - theday.com

North Iowa Celebrations: Anniversaries, weddings, birthdays and more for July 19 – Mason City Globe Gazette

Thank you St. Expedite for helping with my mom's health scare. RP

Prayer to Saint Expedite for Urgent Need

Prayer to Saint Expeditefor Urgent Need

Our dear martyr and protector, Saint Expediter,

you who know what is necessary and

I beg you to intercede before the Holy Trinity,

that by your grace my request will be granted.

(Clearly express what you want,

and ask him to find a way to get it to you.)

May I receive your blessings and favors.

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

If Saint Expedite grants your request,

place an ad in the newspaper thanking Saint Expedite,

so that his name and fame will grow.

View post:

North Iowa Celebrations: Anniversaries, weddings, birthdays and more for July 19 - Mason City Globe Gazette

Local golf results, July 18, 2020 | Results – The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

Hole in One

Maggie Mills, July 13 at Adobe Creek National Golf Course. Mesa No. 6, a 124-yard par-3 with an 8-iron. Witness: Linda Elmer.

Chipeta Mens League

First Flight Gross 1. Marshal Way 33; 2. (tie) Tim Stern, Paul Keddy 36.

First Flight Net 1. Ken Buterbaugh 29; 2. Pepe Flores 30; 3. Gary Baker 31.

Second Flight Gross 1. Bob Hilgenfeld 35; 2. (tie) Don Iles#, Chad Beldon 40.

Second Flight Net 1. John Crawford 30; 2. Don Iles# 30; 3. David Eller 31*.

First Flight Gross 1. Mike Andrews 31; 2. (tie) Gary Zolnosky, Pepe Flores 32.

First Flight Net 1. Rob Vavak 28; 2. Andy Busch 29; 3. Trent Steves 30.

Second Flight Gross 1. Bob Hilgenfeld 34; 2. (tie) Chad Beldon, Mike Mallory 35.

Second Flight Net 1. Jerry Mariz 27; 2. Chris Brubaker 28; 3. Don Iles 29.

Closest to the pin: Don Iles (No. 3); Pete Steves (No. 6); Andy Busch (No. 15); Paul Keddy (No. 17)

#Player played and paid twice

Chipeta Ladies League

Gross 1. Christy Davidson 36; 2. Linda Heath 37; 3. Brigid Maltsberger 41.

Net 1. Kari Greenlee 26; 2. Sandy Brubaker 29; 3. Ann Thomas 30*.

Closest to the pin: Melanie Kallemeyn (No. 10); Bonnie Kellerby (No. 15); Elaine Schramm (No. 17)

Adobe Creek Couples League

1. (tie) Tim Bevan/Deb Kirsch (Nos. 4, 5); James Danner/Kym Bevan (Nos. 6, 8); 2. (tie) Steve Slipka/Jan Jackson (No. 1); Rich Elliott/Michelle Tanner (No. 2); Larry Mallett/Nancy Slipka (No. 3); Dave Kirsch/Mae Mallett (No. 7).

Redlands Mesa Womens League

Second Chance Low Gross/Net

First Flight Gross 1. Deb Leany 75; 2. Liz Kennedy 78.

First Flight Net 1. Julia Conrad 66; 2. Cheryl Bullinger 67.

Second Flight Gross 1. Bonnie Bradley 92; 2. Frances Baer 93.

Second Flight Net 1. Lori Curtis 67; 2. Christina Bybee 73.

Firs Flight Gross 1. (tie) Liz Kennedy, Deb Leany 36.

First Flight Net 1. (tie) Cheryl Bullinger, Julia Conrad, MJ Lerch 32.

Second Flight Gross 1. Bonnie Bradley 42; 2. (tie) Patte Moore, Lynette Randleman 44.

Second Flight Net 1. Kay Campbell 30; 2. Christina Bybee 31.

Adobe Creek Senior Mens League

Gross Flight 1. Dean Moser 70; 2. (tie) Wes Lowe, Randy Cain, Larry Walker 75; 5. Roger Flinn 80.

Net A Flight 1. Jack Rich 67; 2. Larry Sherman 70; 3. Lou Bracket 71; 4. Blaik Copeland 73; 5. (tie) Bryan Cross, Mike Gregg, Bill Smith, Steve Urbach 75.

Net B Flight 1. Mike Hugentobler 68*; 2. (tie) Tom Holman, Tom Keenan, Ron Miller 68; 5. Denzil Snow 71.

Net C Flight 1. Fred Martinez 65; 2. (tie) Jerry Mariz, Ron Pinson 66; 4. Gailen Farney 69; 5. (tie) Paul Kuchyt, Joe Burns, Jim Eiisenhauer, Steve Sarber 71.

Closest to the pin: Craig Robillard (Desert No. 2); Dean Moser (Desert No. 5); Scott Christianson (Monument No. 2); Kent Henrie (Monument No. 6)

Kyms League

Two-Person Alternate Shot

Gross 1. Nate Cook/Zac McCullough 37; 2. Norma Vendegna/Eloy Vendegna 38; 3. Brent King/Jared Molzahn 44.

Net 1. Elaine Schramm/Syd Schramm 29; 2. (Tie) Kym Bevan/Tim Bevan, Jeff Murray/Allen Canetti, Sonia Butler/Lee Butler 34.

Closest to the pin: Eloy Vendegna (No. 7)

Longest putt: Nate Cook (No. 2)

Adobe Creek Mens League

Member/Guest Two-Man Scramble

First Flight Gross 1. (tie) Rex Clemons/Jeff Prall, Scott Angus/Matt Shaw 136.

First Flight Net 1. Kirk Hickey/Aaron Hansen 129; 2. David Witsken/Cody Cordova 131.

Second Flight Gross 1. Jerry Golden/Dean Robinson 137; 2. Matthew Kelly/Chris Chessani 145.

Second Flight Net 1. Tom Ferrans/Jared Ferrans 132. 2. Robert Murray/Jeff Asselin 133.

Tiara Rado Day Ladies League

First Flight Gross 1. Kelly Hall/Lucille Glynn 152; 2. Julia Conrad/Linda Barrett 164; 3. Rose Bunning/Tami Chamblee 167; 4. Jeanie Kruger/Lynette Randleman 175.

First Flight Net 1. Cheryl Bullinger/Margorie Genova 131; 2. Shirley Webb/Barb Vermedahl 134; 3. Terri Knode/Bobby Ordahl 136; 4. Kathy Short/Lynda Stahl 140.

Second Flight Gross 1. Kay Campbell/Margaret Patrias 180; 2. Joyce Stonehocker/Marsha Oliver 194; 3. Lorraine Willney/Ann Tregilgas 196.

Second Flight Net 1. Terri Martinez/Catherine Lucero 129; 2. Nancy Nolan/Katie Hill 137; 3. Patty Bradshaw/Joyce Taylor 143.

Excerpt from:

Local golf results, July 18, 2020 | Results - The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel